Revolutionary corn-based toilet paper

CLERMONT, IN — The winners of this year's Purdue Corn Innovation Contest successfully developed usable toilet paper from the cellulose of corn, according to HoosierAgToday.com.


The winning team, Nature’s Silk, consists of Dave Jaroch, Jessamine Osborne and Janie Stine, the story stated.


Stine says: "We actually use waste cellulose from the fields that’s not being used for anything else. It’s not going to be used for food product, or fabric or anything else."


This environmentally preferable toilet paper could revolutionize the restroom care market and has great potential for widespread use in the near future, the story noted.


According to the story, the team won the $10,000 grand prize from the Indiana Corn Marketing Council.


Osborne said: "Right now, toilet paper is made from wood. You have to use virgin lumber and the world is becoming more environmentally friendly. The gasoline to carry the trees from the forest to the plants is becoming more of an issue. What we have here is 74 million tons of waste not used every year. We can take that waste and farmers can give it to factories that are already present and use it to make our product."


The team’s adviser was Jenna Rickus, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University, the story added.


According to the story, the team's experiments left them with a form of rayon that degrades rapidly in water but is incredibly soft, strong and absorbent while it is intact; there is one application for paper products that’s perfect for that, toilet paper.