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Scientists make 10 optical discs from single corncob

The world's first environment-friendly optical discs made from corn will hit the market from December this year, a Japanese manufacturer has announced.

Officials of Sanyo Mavic Media Co., a subsidiary of electronics giant Sanyo Electric Co., said they have found a way to manufacture 10 high quality compact discs from a single corncob.

Named "MildDisc" by Sanyo Mavic, it is equal to conventional plastic optical discs in quality and produces no dioxin or other hazardous material when it is burnt. Moreover, MildDiscs can be degraded into the harmless soil by using micro-organisms.

Researchers at Sanyo Mavic and its partner Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. invented a method to produce discs from polylactic acid extracted from corn.

Sanyo Mavic officials are forecasting that the market for MildDisc can grow to 1 billion yen in fiscal 2005 after it goes on sale in December this year.

source