3 ms·
Non-petroleum based plastics are a thing, but lag behind in many areas like strength, injection molding quality, UV resistance etc. Recently Lego decided on mo
by semi-extrinsic 10y ago
Non-petroleum based plastics are a thing, but lag behind in many areas like strength, injection molding quality, UV resistance etc.
Recently Lego decided on moving to plant-based plastics, but they expect to need more than a decade of R&D by a team of 100 people, costing $150 million, before these materials are up to Lego's quality standards.
http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i26/Lego-Replace-Oil-Based-Plastics.html http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i26/Lego-Replace-Oil-Based-Pl...
- ocschwar 10y agoIf they can figure out how to make the stuff out of bamboo, then we have ourselves a carbon sequestration method. No more global warming.
- barkbro 10y agoBamboo is made of cellulose, which is not what you would want to use for making plastics. The problem with cellulose is that, because it is fibrous, there aren't really any efficient ways of breaking it down.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- hx87 10y agoWood is also cellulose, but it is an excellent substitute for plastic in many cases (i.e. chopsticks and eating utensils)
- danans 10y agoFor silverware at least this is available: https://www.bambuhome.com/products/all-occasion-veneerware-knife-fork-spoon?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=18314030593&gclid=CjwKEAjwjqO_BRDribyJpc_mzHgSJABdnsFWqjH1SjDNfYLJ9nxoJNFbLKWff6rsnR568JyeifyElxoCPPTw_wcB https://www.bambuhome.com/products/all-occasion-veneerware-k... Expensive, though, for disposable stuff.