Potato stronger than plastic
A British company has come up with an ingenious method of turning potatoes into plastic. Vegware uses the technology to create disposable items such as cutlery and tableware.
It's cheap too - a mixed bag of 10 knives, forks and spoons is only £2.97 (about $5.90US). For mass caterers, a bag of 1,000 knives costs £29.90 +VAT and shipping (about $59US).
The cutlery gets its strength from potato or corn starch and its actually stronger than standard plastic cutlery. Being made from vegetable matter, the products are totally biodegradable, so they are dramatically better for the environment than plastics made from oil.
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Mike said,
November 27, 2007 @ 3:25 am
Good. I have always disliked how wasteful it is to use disposable silverware, but this is great. Just as convenient, and smaller amount of permanent plastic clogging landfills.
Aaron said,
November 27, 2007 @ 5:57 am
This is amazing and a great achievement for the environmental movement!
jasmine said,
November 27, 2007 @ 9:50 am
is that really potatos
seems to be original ones
jasmine
tech-chek.blogspot.com
pallolea@hotmail.com said,
November 27, 2007 @ 10:23 am
Que chingon, la industria debe crecer y remplazar al plastico del aceite… imaginen la cantidad de diversos materiales derivados de la papa… se podrian cosntruir edificios.
Vicki said,
November 27, 2007 @ 3:30 pm
We should not be using food to make stuff that is disposable. Food is more important than convenience on a picnic. Don’t take food from people’s mouths for another instant throw away item.
Humus said,
November 27, 2007 @ 6:13 pm
You need to look at the total environmental cost of an alternative to plastic cutlery instead of only look at the material used to manufacture it. What is (theoretically) the incremental “virgin” land that would need to be cultivated to produce the potatoes (e.g. rainforest burnt down to make way from potato plastics)? Transporting, dicing, mashing and converting these potatoes into cutlery all take energy - probably in the form of electricity powering machines produced from burning coal, gas or petrol. Then they need to be shipped to their destination, which means lorries, trains, planes… I have no idea if all of this consumes less than producing plastic, just pointing out the environmental impact of such innovations are not easy to measure.
aef said,
November 27, 2007 @ 8:49 pm
Humans HAVE impacts. Like it or not, we will never be impactless. We have to study wich one of 2 bads is lesser.
murray said,
November 27, 2007 @ 9:48 pm
can you eat it?
Di said,
November 27, 2007 @ 10:06 pm
the planet would be a lot happier if more people thought of these earth friendly productivity more often. I honestly think it is INGENIOUS
Martin said,
November 27, 2007 @ 10:47 pm
I can’t remember one time in my life when i actually needed plastic knives of forks. Do you?
russky said,
November 27, 2007 @ 11:32 pm
nice….but plastic or corn/potato starch uses energy in manufacture/transportation….surely a metal utensil that can be washed and used 800,000 times is more efficient (and nicer to eat with).
razekane97 said,
November 28, 2007 @ 12:24 am
The only question I have is whether or not you can ferment the leftovers into vodka.
T Up North said,
November 28, 2007 @ 1:26 am
Ok, I think it is a great idea — there will be no one magic bullet to solve everything — Everyone can find the cons for something like this — the question is what of the choices we have will make the least impact around us, we will never find anything make no impact — we can become LOW impact — there are no such things as No impact items. thanks
Jimi said,
November 28, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
I picture a couple Irish guys sittin around drinking a few pints, you paint the rest
Judi said,
November 28, 2007 @ 6:34 pm
Re: Humus Nov27. Vicki Nov27
Thinking the same as I read down the list.
Are you able to justify this product….be great if you could
Joe said,
November 28, 2007 @ 9:42 pm
You all have no common sense do you? Especially the moron who said he never had a use for a plastic silverware in his life. Anytime you go to a fast food restaurant, eg. Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Boston Market, do you really expect them to give you metal silverware? Yeah right. This is perfect for foodservice and would make a tremendous impact on landfill waste.
natron said,
November 29, 2007 @ 12:38 am
agreed. i work in food service and am horrified by the amount of plastic i give away EVERY DAY to be used once (often by the same regulars) and thrown away. not sure how the price stacks up against what sysco offers (the real bottom line) but this seems like a fantastic alternative to me.
Emily said,
November 29, 2007 @ 12:54 am
What is that point of potato “vegware” aren’t we wasting our food resources just to make alternatives for plastic ware? if there was a need I would see a reason for this invention. but food should be saved for something more useful like oil, or just feeding a poor family in Africa, or Asia, or South America. theres people every where who could come up with a better use for potato’s other the “vegware” The only real good thing about this invention is that we wont need to make plastic ware anymore, but the amount of plastic wear made all over the country could not be matched by potatos. theres not enough farms, or places to make all these potato’s needed. see this was a good idea, but when you think about it, its a waste of time.
Joe Frankel said,
November 29, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
Dear all…
We at Vegware are delighted that our product has sparked debate. I would like to add a few comments on behalf of the company.
Firstly, we would always recommend reusable cutlery and tableware, and washing after use. However, the reality is that this is not always practical or economic. Our approach is to look at current products and practices (which it will take significant political will to change) and offer preferable alternatives. We see our role as providing products which lessen the environmental impact of disposables in food service.
We are a for-profit company, though are guided by strong environmental principles. In addition to rolling out innovative products (we are currently working on compostable lids for hot-drink cups), we are interested in adding to the debate and disseminating information. I hope that our website reflects this.
In answer to Emily’s point - firstly, my (somewhat limited) understanding of why people are going hungry in the world is that it is to do with economics, distribution and conflict, rather than global production capacity. Secondly, whilst our products are made from corn and potato now, ultimately it is the sea which is going to yield large volumes of matter for biofuels and bioplastics. New Scientist recently reported on a study which suggested that an area the size of the North Sea (miniscule against e.g. the Pacific) could be used to grow sufficient biofuel to power all current global transport.
So Judi - ‘Are you able to justify this product….be great if you could’ - well, as someone above noted, a full eco audit is slippery at best. However, here are a few thoughts in the favour of Vegware.
* Standard plastic is made from oil, which is polluting at every stage of the operation, from exploration, drilling, transportation through to refining. It has also been linked with negative soclial impacts. It is also non-renewable.
* The raw materials for our products can be produced with significantly lower environmental impact, and are annually renewable.
* Landfill sites are filling up, though around 2/3 of what goes into landfill is organic matter. This could be reprocessed in commercial composting plants, though currently it is too expensive due to the cost of sorting out different waste streams.
* If all food packaging was compostable, then the food waste and packaging could be reprocessed together, and diverted from landfill.
* Our cutlery is high-heat resistant (can be put through a dishwasher) so can be reused a number of times.
Final thought? I don’t think it’s a waste of time, but then I would say that as I started the company…
With best regards,
Joe Frankel
Managing Director
Vegware
Michael said,
November 29, 2007 @ 9:27 pm
We use these in the cafeteria at work, and I was surprised at our company’s commitment to the environment — even the take-away containers are made of durable paper products — and I was also surprised at how sturdy they are. I kind of expected them to start dissolving the minute they touched hot soup, but they last long enough to finish the meal. A great alternative to plastic stuff. I don’t feel so guilty anymore.
Kara said,
November 29, 2007 @ 11:40 pm
I think that this is absolutely fantastic.
I read an article about a month ago about the area in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. This area is like a dead zone in the ocean, something to do with the currents coming together leaving the water devoid of nutrients. Anyway, this area has started accumulating all kinds of plastic, the things that somehow make it into rivers and streams and eventually end up in the ocean. The man running the study said that this area is clogged with plastic, and is roughly twice the size of Texas.
Anyway, ever since reading that article (google it…it’s great), I’ve been noticing the amount of plastic that I come across every day…bags at the store, cellophane covering microwave dinners, etc. It’s disgusting to me to think about the amount of non-biodegradable plastic that is accumulating each day. That’s why I love this idea.
While it may not be any more energy efficient to produce, it’s not polluting like plastic. I’d love to see the day when this product becomes cheap enough (I’m not sure how this cost translates to the American dollar) that places like McDonalds, Taco Bell, etc use them.
Well done.
Gabriel said,
November 30, 2007 @ 2:30 am
I agree in that it is better this than regular plastic from oil, but looking at the big picture I see that we keep insisting in using and disposing, and not trying to really change the way we use energy. Among other things, we need to:
1. stop consuming the way we do.
2. stop using disposables.
3. stop trying to find ways to avoid addressing our responsibilities.
I’m sorry but the change needed is much bigger, and if you can’t see it, then it’ll be really like blowing a bit harder to stop the forest fire.
Rich said,
November 30, 2007 @ 4:04 pm
Awesome! low impact! When your done eating with these, you can go fertilize your lawn with it. hehe. I like it; it’s a great addition to the list of things you can do.
Michelle said,
November 30, 2007 @ 5:31 pm
Kara, I agree completly with you. I saw that article also. It had some very scary statistics. If biodegradable plastics were more common, there would be much less of a problem. For all of the idiots saying things like stop using plastic altogethr, grow up and get a brain. Just think about it for a moment (I know it is hard but try). Plastic wont dissappear with the snap of your fingers. Would you seriously bring silverwear out and about with you? This is not about something perfect; it is about something BETTER. Biodegradable plastics are a fantastic, nonpoluting (not as much) idea. GET OVER IT!
Jake said,
November 30, 2007 @ 6:31 pm
You people need to get real. Complaining about wastefulness of plastic cutlery, only to have someone else complain about taking food out of people’s mouth to make it, only to have someone complain about the ravaging of land that is required to produce the potatoes.
Grow up and see how the world works. There are things we can do to make things better, but there are also always costs involved.
Olwen said,
November 30, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
I wonder how long they take to decompose…
Kurra said,
November 30, 2007 @ 7:50 pm
Anyone else agree that $5.90US isn’t cheap for 10 knives, forks and spoons?
And the article said spooks instead of spoons, haha!
doulamegan said,
December 1, 2007 @ 6:00 am
Using edible food we can throw away?! Wow, soon we’ll use food to power our cars too! Maybe we’ll even eat fast food, in our food powered cars, with our food made utensils.
Less landfill, bonus!
Keith said,
December 1, 2007 @ 10:28 am
Let’s face it,people in the developed world want too much.Maybe it’s time we started to think about living lives that revolve around what we need and not what we want.Have a look around your house and see how much of the stuff you have you coud live without.Most of it.Do we really want a sustainable planet,environment etc.or do we just want to live as comfortably as we can and let the people of the future worry about the future.When i see stories in the news about developing countries aspiring to build economies and social structures like ours i can’t help thinking that,maybe, we should be ……….
I include myself when i say we.
Marc said,
December 1, 2007 @ 1:22 pm
ever tried using your fingers? Then just wash-up!
antlegg said,
December 3, 2007 @ 7:37 am
Excellent stuff. It scares me how much people consume (including myself). Waste is out of control and we need to think seriously about what we use, how we use it and how we dispose of it. It is up to us as individuals, communities, companies, organisations to tackle this problem.
daretoeatapeach said,
January 27, 2008 @ 1:30 am
I used to get really excited about stuff like this. But I saw articles about this product years ago and their use is still not widespread. As long as most people still think like Jake little will change.
Humus makes a good point. While this product is clearly better than petroleum-based plastic, the Western way of life isn’t sastainable. Aef: there is a difference between sustainable and no-impact. Humans lived sustainably for thousands of years. If you are relying on non-renewable resources (such as oil) for everything from utensils to hospital equipment, eventually they will run out. That’s what it means to be NONRENEWABLE. oil, coal, natural gas, timber are all peaking. Our ultimate goal has to be to change our way of life (wash the fork) but this is a great stop-gap in the meantime.
jake3988 said,
February 2, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
Eliminates the oil. The production, refinining, etc of oil which is horrendous for the environment.
It’s also, I assume, completely biodegradable which eliminates the waste.
2 out of 5 ain’t bad!
Enviroment Kid said,
October 9, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
Yea so I am doing a project on clean energy and I think this is genius! I mean metal is good but every once and a while for the cook out, the picnic, ya know. So i really think that if we make like tupperware or other plastic things then we can reduce SO MUCH!!!!!!!!! I really hope one of the presidents will avocate the clean energy…. lets hope so.