EcoForms is a company creating planting pots from discarded grain husks held together with water soluble glues. Over the course of their five year lifespan the pots will slowly degrade, and when discarded to landfills or compost heaps break down into environmentally friendly nutrients. They're available in six colors, and several different styles. The company is also able to custom engineer pots that break down in six months or last up to eight years for those clients that have special needs. It would be very useful to have a potted plant that with a container that would fall apart as a reminder that it was time to move to a larger pot. I think that the product is a fantastic idea, and I wish them the best of luck rolling it out nationwide over the next year.

My questions about recycled goods are always about the costs involved in bringing the product to the consumer. I do believe that businesses should make every effort to be good stewards and break down trash for recycling if financially feasible. TerraCycle is a favorite company of mine because they've taken plastic and converted it into a low cost package that's friendly to the environment. It's fun to see these large scale recycling processes on store shelves, but the true winner is the company using free trash to create a saleable product.

As more companies imitate this business practice the price of garbage will rise, and middleman companies will emerge in the market for collecting and reselling our disposables. Cash payout will motivate everyone to start recycling as fast as they can. The whole scenario is just like the market for aluminum cans - Not everyone recycles now, but in 2000 we saw a 1.2 billion dollar business in aluminum can recycling that didn't exist before the late 1950's.

EcoForms spotted over at Apartment Therapy