University of Maine creates golf ball out of lobster shells

We lived near a golf course when I was a kid and we thought it was great fun to grab the balls as they rolled down the fairway. What we didn't realize was that the golfers were hitting those balls from over the hill and they didn't appreciate at all that we swiped their balls. We moved to wading in the water hazards gathering up the balls sitting on the bottom of the pond.

If you think about it, there are probably thousands of golf balls under the water in those hazards on golf courses all around the country and the things will be there forever unless someone digs them out. The University of Maine has invented a new biodegradable golf ball that is made from the stuff the lobster canning industry tosses out.

The balls are made from lobster shells that are held together with a biodegradable binder and a coating that is biodegradable too. That means after the ball sits in that water for a certain amount of time it will just melt away leaving some lobster shell chunks behind. The balls are on the market now for a bit less than $1 per ball and the material costs about 19 cents per ball. The catch is that ball won't fly as far as a regular golf ball.

[via BoingBoing]