The Scarlet & Black

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The Scarlet & Black

The Scarlet & Black

Feven Getachew
Feven Getachew
May 6, 2024
Michael Lozada
Michael Lozada
May 6, 2024
Nathan Hoffman
Nathan Hoffman
May 6, 2024
Harvey Wilhelm `24.
Harvey Wilhelm
May 6, 2024

Column: Green Ideas

As people move on from the basic simple steps of environmentalism, some are bound to get more creative. More and more wacky ideas are being proposed as ultimate and unusual solutions to climate change.

According to Time, Agroplast, a Denmark-based company, has come up with the solution to plastic waste. Instead of using plastic-based disposable silverware and cups or even vegetable-based ones (as the Grill does for its cups), Agroplast uses pig urine to create a biodegradable solution to the problem. Yes, you read that right—pig urine. They call their company a Human-Animal Solutions Equipment Biogas Consultancy.

Agroplast not only provides a solution for the replacement of non-biodegradable plastics but also aids the agricultural sector by consuming a waste product that is both a biohazard and expensive in its disposal. They quite proudly boast that they “transform manure into value-added and profitable products.” And plastics are not the only area where they use animal waste. They also produce glue, fuel and diesel engine emission cleaning products all created from animal waste, rather than fossil fuels.

Waste products in the agricultural sector do pose environmental problems that both derogate the environment and contribute to climate change. Water contamination, land expansion to incorporate increasing waste and the release of methane and ammonia into the air are all problems that need to be fixed. But are pig urine plates the answer? I’m not sure I want to be eating off one of their plates, even if it is sanitary.

But perhaps this is the way of the future, the solution to our problems, and one day you will be eating off these plates in the dinning hall without even blinking an eye.

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