Recycle a USB drive, plant a tree

(Credit: ATP)

Imagine this in the near future: While separating the bottles and cans from paper products in the recycling bin, we may also need to set aside some old flash drives. That, at least, is part of the goal put forth by memory manufacturer ATP, which is releasing what it calls "the world's first bio-recyclable USB drive."

The "EarthDrive," which comes in capacities ranging from 1GB to 8GB, is a bit on the pricey side at $20 to $100 considering how cheap thumb drives are getting these days. But it's all for a good cause: ATP, which has partnered with the American Forest Foundation for the project, says it will donate some of the revenues to the planting of trees. And because the EarthDrive is waterproof, shockproof, and dustproof, you can throw it in the same bag with your shovel.