From the Great Ideas Dept.: Biodegradable USB keys

OK, seriously, why hasn't someone thought of this before?

(Credit: Gearlog)

A Hong Kong company says it's come up with a biodegradable USB drive. It's made out of fermented corn material, something called polylactide, which will actually break down in a way that doesn't harm whatever landfill it ends up in.

Hoshino, the drive's creator, is being really literal about it, as you can see, actually making the drive look like an ear of corn. Cute.

I don't really care what it looks like, something like this is very welcome. As evidence I offer a picture of my desk, below.

(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET Networks)

That's what happens when you go to any press conference or industry conference these days. Vendors and public relations agencies, trying to be environmentally conscious, are putting press releases and product images on USB keys instead of paper.

It's a great idea until those USB sticks start to pile up. As of now I've got 23 on my desk, and that's even considering I give them away as often as I can. Still, eventually these will end up in the garbage.

Luckily there are other companies thinking along these same lines. Some PC makers have already started incorporating biodegradable plastics. Fujitsu makes a notebook that's half corn-based materials, and half regular plastics.

(Via Gearlog)

[GoobilisDoobilis]

Hey Erica,

I agree totally that this usb key made of corn product is great. As far as those excess keys on your desk... Send some my way!! I am a college student who is always running out of space. Or you could contact your local high school and see if they have a use for them.(by the way they will) Kids don't use floppies anymore they use usb keys for saving homework. Some teachers even require that students to turn in they're papers and other homework on usb keys. And granted the price of these wonderful little guys have dropped dramatically there are still those students out there that could really use getting a freebie.

[ericaatnews]

Goobilis, thanks for the tip! I think donating them to students is a great idea.

[SlanderPanic]

You can send 'em to me, Erica!

[HungryHungryJose]

Hi Erica,
Im with Goobillis, please contact me and send some my way, I have a bunch of tax,mortgage,house,insurance, auto,....( you get the idea)forms that are a pain in the butt to try to store on a CDR.

[Crawfishboy]

I have seen a couple of articles talking about what a good idea this is, but I haven't read anything about the usb life expectancy. Does this breakdown upon exposure to water, sunlight or both? How long would the exposure have to be for the process to begin? I don't want to have to buy another USB drive in a year or two because mine melted down after getting caught in a thunderstorm, etc.

[BethStLouis]

I am familiar with corn plastic. I have seen it is used for ball point pen casings and coffee cups. The only thing that will break it down is extreme heat. If you put a cup in the dishwasher, especially with heat dry, it will lose it's shape. So as thumb drive casing, it's perfect, just don't leave it on the dashboard of your car on a 100 degree day.

[jouno53]

Another near-sighted global warming obsessed idea. Like ethanol, this will simply cause the price of corn to skyrocket, effecting the market once again. Quit using food to make electronics and to fuel our cars, it has more negatives than positives.

Not only that, the main components of a flash drive are metal and thus will not break down, almost defeating the purpose.

[justdenny]

jouno53...back to 3rd grade for you....metal comes from the earth, hence, it will break down...just more slowly than the casing (think 'rust'), and causing environmental damage in some cases. But, I agree that we need to back off the 'foodstuffs as fuel' routine..it is negatively impacting our environment in many ways. That being said...making our plastic out of corn will save us some gas for our SUVs and trucks, so maybe we'll need less corn for our gas tank. Choices, choices.....sighhhh...it's so difficult being a near-sighted global warming obsessed idealist..

[Frost7331]

How is half-corn,half-plastic going to work if the plastic is non-degradeable?

[jlamar92]

i will take about 5 of those off your hands if u are trying to give them away

[DigitalAngelic]

I'm looking at that Live Orb flash drive... wow, I want one of those.

[luigi517]

so the first time this thing goes thru the wash on accident itll dissolve...?

[tech_junky48]

A better solution:

Use your leftover flash drives to store Data you don't use very often (or never) on your hard drive. At 1GB per, it'll start to pay off quickly. just label what's on them and put them in a box.

[beefmalone]

You can send some my way!

[mdarmocida]

I have mixed feelings about this concept. If the plastic can degrade in a landfill, then it can also degrade before the life of the product is over. This isn't too much of a concern when it comes to thumb-drives, but I'd be pretty pissed off if my laptop casing started to fall apart. It's almost like forced obsolescence.

I don't have a problem with a food product being used, but an earlier commend was correct, the casing is only the outer covering of the thumb-drive, its main component is a memory chip, which although has silicon (which is elemental) it must be packaged in heat resistant plastic; which won't biodegrade. So overall, I see the negatives outweighing the positives on this one.

[Steve Jordan]

It might not be perfect, but it's a good start. I'd like to see SD cards made out of that stuff, too. As devices evolve to hold more data, the smaller-capacity drives just pile up (I've got a nifty collection, too) until they get thrown away... they are considered "disposable memory," and in this day and age, we don't need more "disposable" products.