Researchers have developed a method to turn chicken feathers into plastic products. The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Environmental Quality Laboratory have developed methods to clean feathers, separating out fibers and quills, then combining the feather fibers, for strength, with natural plastic materials, to make a plastic composite.
The feather-plastic can be molded and is similar to polyethylene and polypropylene, with high strength and is biodegradable.
An incredulous four billion pounds (1.84 million metric tons) of feathers come from industrial poultry farming annually, which is a major agricultural landfill problem.
The feather-plastic is proposed as a solution to an environmental landfill problem, and a higher valued use for poultry feathers. One proposed application would be to make lighter plastics for use in automobiles. The ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's major scientific research agency.
Another solution to the landfill issue would be to eat less chicken, giving them and the planet a rest from such monumental over consumption.
Via Science Daily
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