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Re:A Startup Making Paper Out of Stone, Not Trees by schiffern on Friday June 16, 2017 @07:20AM (#14568009)
They're starting off by replacing a potentially renewable resource (trees) with two nonrenewable resources (plastic and limestone). It could still come out ahead in the lifecycle analysis, but it's not a great place to start.

>and are fully recyclable

How about after mixing them with a bunch of limestone? Generally "hybrid" materials aren't recyclable (tetrapacks, mylar bags, wet strength cardboard, etc).

Re:A Startup Making Paper Out of Stone, Not Trees by saalweachter on Friday June 16, 2017 @07:49AM (#14568118)
Serious question.

So I know limestone is technically a non-renewable resource, since we're using it far faster than it is being created.

Should, uh, we actually be worried? It's like 7% of the Earth's crust; are we actually using limestone fast enough to use up a significant fraction of the usable limestone in the expected lifetime of humanity?

Re:A Startup Making Paper Out of Stone, Not Trees by Baeocystin on Friday June 16, 2017 @08:22AM (#14568259)
Not in the least. There are other resources that we do need to worry about, of course. But lime and limestone are not on the list.
Re:A Startup Making Paper Out of Stone, Not Trees by eicossa on Friday June 16, 2017 @07:55AM (#14568149)
I've always wondered the same about iron ore, granite, marble etc.
Re:A Startup Making Paper Out of Stone, Not Trees by Baeocystin on Friday June 16, 2017 @08:32AM (#14568310)
The BBC put together a world resource list a couple years back that I think you might find interesting.

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120618-global-resources-st...

It lists a variety of elements (like antimony) that are surprisingly constrained. If I were to pick the most critical material on the list, though, it would be phosphates. The green boom that feeds the world needs phosphates, the world supply of phosphate-bearing rock is small, and there are no possible substitutes.

Re:A Startup Making Paper Out of Stone, Not Trees by annnnd on Friday June 16, 2017 @09:08AM (#14568510)
This. They are not making paper out of stone, they are mixing limestone in plastic. No doubt there are some benefits to it (less plastic is used - though not 80% less because limestone has higher density), but marketing this as "paper" is highly misleading.
Re:A Startup Making Paper Out of Stone, Not Trees by Baeocystin on Friday June 16, 2017 @08:20AM (#14568253)
Plastics are commonly whitened with Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide already. Calcium Carbonate is a pretty benign chemical as far as potential problems for the plastic waste stream go. I don't see any outstanding issue with its recyclability.