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Saturday, December 3, 2011

The "Green" In Little Green Apples


We often think of “green” inventions as those that utilize alternative energy or that reduce waste.  However, green ideas include those that, on the surface, appear merely to provide a convenience or serve some aesthetic desire.

How does a simple bread bag clip make the list of eco-inventions, for example? Since it replaced (decades ago) the twist tie, each consumes non-renewable materials.  Yet, the clip, initially, was made from scrap material.  It’s evolution has led it into the familiar pit of more waste, however. 

Then there is the Fehrway tractor, a farmyard tractor used to move bulky round bales in feedlots.  Since there are myriad tractors available to do this job, inventing another one, on the surface, appears redundant and wasteful.  However, it is constructed from old combines, and sells for about one-fifth to one-tenth of the cost of a new tractor.  Additionally, its advantage as a real-wheel steering vehicle means that it can manoeuvre in smaller spaces, consuming less fuel than conventional big field tractors.

For me, one of the most exciting inventions is the size of a dime, and flushes down the sink when used.  That hardly seems practical!  But it is. 

The Fruitwash sticker is designed to replace the current aggravatingly difficult to remove labels that are affixed to every piece of fruit that we purchase in grocery stores, from bananas (remember the Chiquita banana?) to apples.  I’m sure Scott Amron’s new invention looks equally irritating, since it is the same size as those other pieces of glue and paper that end up lodged under one’s fingernails.  Those scraps, no doubt, singularly are the greatest reason why many of us don’t eat the recommended 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables each day!

Amron, a New York electrical engineer, found that he, too, was frustrated by the waste and annoyance of those fruit stickers, but he set about to resolve the problem.

The result? Fruitwash stickers, when wetted under a faucet, break down and dissolve into an organic soap that removes the filth – the pesticides and fungicides that are used to treat the fruit during the growing season.  Bacteria that have sneaked onto the apples or plums or other fruit similarly are washed away as the label morphs into soap.  And, joy of joys, so, too is that thick layer of water-resistant wax plastered onto apples to maintain their fresh eye appeal.

The Fruitwash sticker may seem miniscule and insignificant, and may not even appear to be an environmentally friendly idea on the surface, but it is ideas such as Scott Amron’s that, tiny fleck at a time, prove to be good for our environment.


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