In order to make this post understandable to 210 million people, this needs to be said: plastic is made from oil.
Petroleum based plastics take forever to biodegrade whereas soy based plastics biodegrade a lot faster – thus making bioplastics friendly to our planet. The International Herald Tribune has a good article outlining the benefits of bioplastics and the current state of the industry.
Apparently Henry Ford loved soybeans! Maybe he knew that oil was a limited resource our something crazy like that đŸ˜‰
Much of the early research on bioplastics was supported by Henry Ford, who believed strongly in the potential of the soybean. One famous 1941 photo shows Ford swinging an ax head into the rear of a car to demonstrate the strength of the soy-based biocomposite used to make the auto body. But soy quickly lost out to petrochemical plastics.
“In those days you had a lot more oil around,” Tao said. “You didn’t have to wait until the growing season.”