Ah ha! I’d heard about Fujitu’s “corn-based laptop” at CES, but I’d also heard that they had to combine the polylactic acid resin (PLA, or “the corn part”) with petroleum-based polymers to create the outer shell of the laptop. But Inhabitat answered something that some of the PR folk I had talked to via email did not: the petroleum polymers can be removed from the PLA housing for recycling, making it reasonable to suggest that this could offer a step forward for electronics recycling.
Now if they could figure out a way to make the greenboards green. Why doesn’t corn do a better job as a transistor?
FUJITSU UNVEILS LAPTOP MADE FROM CORN [Inhabitat]
I’m not sure a laptop’s case is the prime candidate for biodegradability. First of all it’s meant for long term-use (a few years), as opposed to a few weeks for most plastic items. And then there’s probably a bunch of stuff inside that’s either not biodegradable (hard drive!), or that you DON’T want to biodegrade, such as mercury in the screen’s fluorescent lighting.
It’s a bit like Arnold’s hybrid Hummer. I’m sure it’s got some use and that it might save some dino juice, but it’s probably not the first place where I’d try to go green.