RSS Feeds
Peripherals
Biodegradable Flash Drives Were a Long Time Coming
Posted by Mark Wilson at 8:30 AM on August 7, 2008
Electronics manufacturer Hoshino has just announced "the world's first biodegradable USB disk." It's constructed of the corn-based plastic polylactide, and just in case you forget that fact, they've shaped the drive like an ear of corn. We don't have a lot of information on the device, but it appears they've figured out how to make the entire drive biodegradable, not just the casing (though that cop-out is certainly a possibility). Since most of our electronics we're using right now won't be part of our daily arsenal in two to three years, it's good to see manufacturers at least considering how we'll dispose of all this junk. [Hoshino via Gearlog]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
George
Posted August 7, 2008 11:09 AM
Great a flash drive that melts in my pocket when I sweat. Cool ;)
Antioch18
Posted 9:02 AM 7/8/08
In Japan getting rid of your tech is easy. You can either cart it down to Akihabara and sell it to some shops or -- there usually is a truck that comes around neighborhoods fairly often collecting your old tech. They probably sell it to recycling plants, but to me that's fine as I'd give it away to people that would use it for free except my friends don't need my old $hit.
Antioch18
BoinK
Posted 8:44 AM 7/8/08
I remember seeing my first bio degradable "gadget" a long long time ago as a kid. Well, by gadget I mean a pen, but still. A friend had gotten it as a gift and we all thought it was pretty neat and thought we'd see a whole lot more of that kind of stuff.
That was 20 years ago...
BoinK
MyPetFly
Posted 9:08 AM 7/8/08
@BoinK:
So where is the pen now?
I think I read years ago about a car (one-of-a-kind, I'd assume) whose body panels were made out of some sort of biodegradable material.
MyPetFly
DeadWriter
Posted 9:50 AM 7/8/08
Good for storing corno.
DeadWriter
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
Posted 9:35 AM 7/8/08
What will Wall*E listen to now? This won't last till he comes around! Boooo!
Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity
DeadWriter
Posted 9:57 AM 7/8/08
CornSilk was a once a commercial name for a biodegradable plastic made from corn. I remember getting a pen made of the stuff when I was in Kansas. It was hot and my hand was sweaty. It started to degrade in no time. They marked CornSilk for use in plastic grocery bags, trash bags, and other plastic disposables. I am quite sure that the Plastics Council (the American Plastics Council) has stopped using the CornSilk brand name.
I am betting this product is more stable, and more useless, as the electronics are not going to degrade to nothing.
DeadWriter
Impetuous_Vigor
Posted 11:21 AM 7/8/08
Biodegradable is one thing, but can you eat it?
Impetuous_Vigor
taftsearlobe33
Posted 12:48 PM 7/8/08
@Impetuous_Vigor: eating it is one thing, but will it blend? that is the question
taftsearlobe33
shanzi
Posted 4:14 PM 7/8/08
Microwave it then blend it..
There you go, a shake fer ya..
shanzi
GadgetPlay
Posted 4:02 PM 7/8/08
Another way to take something that poor people should be eating inexpensively and drive up the price by putting it into the hands of guilty enviro-wienies. Have we learned nothing from ethanol? Never mind.
GadgetPlay
Barcard
Posted 10:51 PM 7/8/08
So if it accidentally gets in the laundry, it's gone.
Barcard
Spkl
Posted 12:06 AM 8/8/08
i want an edible USB drive.
Spkl