Vegetable CD's, no joke ..

[Quixfire]

I saw this story over on Guru3D and thought this was very interesting.

Sanyo Electric has developed an optical disc based on a polymer derived from corn which, the company says, is as sturdy as current plastic discs but will biodegrade when disposed of. The company, which is claiming a world first for the technology, will begin selling its "MildDisc" in December. It is initially targeting volume customers producing prerecorded CDs, such as music CDs, VideoCDs and CD-ROMS. The discs have been designed to tackle a problem common to many plastics upon disposal: If burned, toxic gases can be released into the atmosphere causing health and global warming concerns; but if buried, they don't break down, causing a potential problem for future generations. The MildDisc will degrade after a period of about 50 to 100 years and break down into water and carbon dioxide, Watson said. This time span means users don't have to worry about losing information during the lifetime of the discs, he said.

When sales begin at the end of this year, the blanks disc will sell in bulk for roughly three times the price of current plastic discs. However, Sanyo estimates it will be able to reduce this premium to around 1.2 times as production ramps up and volume shipments begin.

Cargill Dow is using the same initial process and its own refining process to produce its NatureWorks PLA polymer film. Several companies are using the film to produce a range of goods including cartons, candy wrappers, kitchen utensils, and acrylic sheets and fabrics.

Posted by Hilbert Hagedoorn on October 22, 2003 - 3:33 AM

Link

 

[DrPizza]

..... and if you burn a coaster, you've got a snack!

 

[Kadarin]

It's an excellent idea.. replace all those toxic AOL cds with biodegradeable ones.

 

[Pepsi90919]

uh, the question here is WHY?

i'm not gonna buy a data storage medium whose claim to fame is degradation.

 

[shiner]

Hmm...for a moment I thought maybe the woman in Florida had released an album.