Smartphone users may soon find themselves holding a piece of rural Saskatchewan in their hands.
Open Mind Developments of Saskatoon has developed a case for the Apple IPhone 4 using an ecofriendly plastic that incorporates flax stubble.
Company president Jeremy Lang, an environmental consultant who studied agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan, said he was interested in the possibilities of plant-derived plastics, or bio-polymers, to provide environmentally friendly new markets for producers.
One of the knocks against biopolymers has been that they produce brittle plastic unsuitable to many applications.
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Flax growers often burn their stubble after harvest, and Lang said he thought it was a shame that the potentially useful commodity was going up in smoke.
With help from researchers at the U of S, he found a formula to add fibre derived from flax straw to a bio-polymer to make it more durable.
“The same strength that makes that fibre difficult to break down in a field is a positive strength that can be used to strengthen the plastic,” said Lang.
The result is a plant-derived plastic with the durability for more rigorous uses than current bio-polymers. And unlike regular plastic, it can be broken down in an industrial composting facility.
He called his new product the Pela case, from the Spanish word for peel, which is a play on the idea of a natural skin to protect the IPhone.
Lang chose the IPhone case as the trial for his plastic because of what he called the over-engineering of cases made with conventional plastic.
“Right now you’ve got a plastic case that will last hundreds or thousands of years, when the average cell phone lasts for something like 16 months.”
Lang developed his product with the help of a grant from Agriculture Canada’s Canadian Agriculture Adaptation Program, administered in Saskatchewan by the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan.
The grant provided 50 percent of the funds to help Open Mind Developments conduct feasibility studies and develop a business plan.
Council executive director Laurie Dmytryshyn said the project was exciting because it combines environmental benefits with expanded markets for producers.
“Its good for the environment and it’s good for producers, and that’s really a key part of our whole program. It’s about helping companies develop ideas and products that benefit the (agriculture) sector,” she said.
Dmyshytryn said the process for securing a grant is rigorous, with applications reviewed by a panel of representatives from across the agriculture industry. The council has approved 66 applications since 2009.
The Pela case is available online at pelacase.com, but Lang is working on getting it into retail outlets.
The case is only the beginning, he added. The next project is to use flax to strengthen recycled plastic to make parts for farm equipment.
“With my ag background, I’m interested in working with ag companies and instead of using conventional plastic from oil we can use recycled plastic and use flax to make it strong,” he said.
“We can provide farmers with extra income for the flax straw that they don’t have much use for right now, and create rural jobs in processing and manufacturing.”
