this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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So then what can it be used for, other than being decomposed? Doesn't almost all food contain salt, and human sweat as well? It's not really useful on earth then, is it? Maybe for unmanned spacecrafts?
Well, the dream material would be some that is stable during use and then immediately falls apart when disposed. But that's not how things usually work, so anything that decomposes fairly quickly cannot be used to store food for example, as it would just mix with the food. And anything that is stable enough to store food does not decompose in a hundred years or so.
Sounds great for non-food packages, such as small electronics, toys, etc. Anything that currently comes in a blister pack.
Depends on how much the salt content in the air at coastal places affect it. But if it doesn't that much, then sure, sounds good. Of course, also the intermediate products of decomposition should be nontoxic in that case.
I guess that's part of the reason they're exploring coatings - something to slow down the degradation during regular usage.
Then you can just used coated cardboard
Product packaging for non-foods