Manure Perception

U of I Professor Dr. Erik Coats found a way to make bio-degradable plastic out of cow manure and I talked with him about the concept: “some people might think drinking milk out of a transformed cow pie might be less than appealing, do you fear running into that kind of perception? First of all, conventional plastics are made out of oil most people don’t realize and second of all, because it is a bio degradable commodity, we think there are better applications that would generate higher value, higher return with the plastic. We would look at non-direct consumer product opportunities, things like planter pots or erosion control matting or printer cartridges. We use plastic everywhere and there is a variety of commodities where people would value the plastic commodity being biodegradable. Packaging, there is just a variety of opportunities that would not have us going down any sort of bottle route. I will tell you that once our process produces organic acids, once we are at that stage, the manure is no longer a part of the equation. We just have carbon and once we are a plastic, plastic is plastic, so we are very far removed from the manure stage. One thing that comes to my mind with the biodegradable is the little round plastic holders for six packs of soft drinks or beer that find their way into the ocean and trap fish. That is a commodity where people would value it being biodegradable.