Your Next Car May be Made from Fruit

Some people think we buy cars that look like us, but if your next car is made from fruit, that won’t be the case. Hopefully it won’t be a lemon, but it COULD be a pineapple or a banana. And that plastic bottle you’re drinking out of could turn out to be made out of meat scraps.

Scientists have developed a more effective way to use fibers from fruit and other plants in a new generation of automotive plastics that are stronger, lighter, and more eco-friendly than plastics now in use. And with billions of pounds of meat and bone meal going to waste in landfills after a government ban on its use in cattle feed–since it leads to Mad Cow disease (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show)–scientists have developed a process that uses meat and bone meal to make partially biodegradable plastic that does not require raw materials made from oil or natural gas.

Researcher Alcides Leao says that the fibers used to reinforce the new plastics may come from delicate fruits like bananas and pineapples, but some of them are almost as strong as Kevlar, which is used to make bulletproof vests. But unlike Kevlar and other traditional plastics, which are made from petroleum or natural gas, these fibers are completely renewable.

These new plastics may be renewable, but WE’RE not–we need your support if we’re going to keep on bringing you the BEST in edge news! So follow the right path (the one you KNOW you should follow) and subscribe today. And come (by car or plane or however you get there) and make new friends and meet your favorite Dreamland hosts in beautiful Nashville this summer!