Agri View: Plastic Challenge

Dan Agri View, Dairy & Livestock

plastic edible-packaging
Everett Griner talks about packaging made something other than plastic in today’s Agri View.

Plastic Challenge

I told you recently about how plastics used for packaging is creating unsolvable problems in our landfill dumps and our oceans. It is even getting worse. And while we are nowhere close to solving the problem science keeps looking to find a solution. And they are looking to the farm. We now have a packaging product that can be made from milk. Not only is it biodegradable, it is edible! Not yet, but it’s on its way. And there is a heavier packaging product that is made from soybeans which is stronger and lighter than cardboard. It’s not edible but it will disintegrate. Right now the problem is to create these products in a more affordable price range. This effort will require an unspecified time but it is going to happen sooner or later. I believe it is acceptable say that plastic is on its way to oblivion. We would all be glad to see that wouldn’t we?

That’s Agri View for today, I’m Everett Griner.

Video from: American Chemical Society

Most foods come wrapped in plastic packaging. This type of packaging creates a lot of waste and aren’t that great at preventing spoilage. Researchers are now developing a biodegradable film made from milk proteins to hopefully solve these problems.