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Iowa is my favorite state. There some fine colleges and friendly people there. In On The Road, Jack Kerouac said that the most beautiful women in the country were in Des Moines, Iowa. This is true, but the ugliest women in the country are in Sioux City, Iowa. No one can explain this juxtaposition to me.
Iowa is often thought of as a fly-over state full of corn. It is full of corn, beautifully packed with corn, overloaded with ears, crammed with kernels. In fact, while you were reading this, Iowa probably produced a bunch of corn.
Because states like Iowa are so good at growing corn, we have been trying to use corn for purposes besides foodstuffs. Scientists have tried putting it in our gasoline and making diapers, sacks and alcohol from it.
One of the new uses for corn is plastic. I love corn, but I won't lie. There are some problems with corn plastic. It has a melting point of 114 degrees Fahrenheit. So don't take it to the beach. It doesn't biodegrade perfectly either. Corn plastic is composed of polylactic acid, and microbes require quite a bit of oxygen to deconstruct this product. Corn plastic can gum up large scale composting facilities and if buried in the soil, it will not decompose without access to oxygen.
However, corn plastic reduces our dependence on foreign oil. It is grown in American soil and doesn't have to be shipped overseas. Utilizing corn plastics creates local jobs and grows the local economy. As a resource, it's about as renewable as you can get. Not to mention that it requires 68% less energy to make with fewer greenhouse emissions.
It may have some problems biodegrading, but it can biodegrade. Some petroleum-based plastics will never biodegrade.
Corn plastic may not be perfect yet. Give it time to mature and consider using it instead of petroleum-based plastics.
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