Victor Co of Japan (JVC) has said it has succeeded in manufacturing an environmentally friendly DVD with a special plastic synthesised from corn starch.
Unlike conventional DVDs made from oil, the new DVD, made mainly from polylactide resin, will help reduce the consumption of oil and the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted in the process of incinerating used DVDs for disposal, Xinhua reports, quoting the company.
Polylactide resin has been applied to the body of personal computers and other electronics devices. But it has been difficult to apply it to DVDs as the material is vulnerable to high temperatures inside DVD players.
JVC said it succeeded in creating the corn-based polylactide resin capable of withstanding temperatures of up to 55 degrees celsius.
It is possible to apply the new substance not only to a DVD, but to a CD and blue ray disk, which is a next-generation memory storage device, the company said.
However, the production cost of the new DVDs is three times that of conventional ones. JVC has yet to decide a schedule for commercialising the technology.