We know this is a little complex—is it a plant that prints printers? Is it a printer that prints plastic?—but don’t worry, we’ll explain it to you.
There are currently plant-based plastics, materials made of lactic acid that form during the fermentation of corn, potatoes, and sugar cane. These plant plastics are a bit expensive, but if you mix them with petroleum-based plastics, you get a nice, hefty mix. That’s what Ricoh has decided to use for two of their multi-function devices.
Do we care? Sure. Every little bit helps, and every time someone uses an alternative material it gets cheaper to manufacture due to quantities of scale and R&D investment. Pretty soon everything will be make out of fermented corn, not just moonshine.
Ricoh makes printer out of plants [TheInquirer]
