Lobster shell, a waste product from the canning industry, could find a use in the future, after chemical engineers at the University of Maine, US, found a way to turn it into biodegradable golf balls.

Biological and chemical engineering professor David Neivandt developed the lobster-shell golf balls, which Neivandt told tce break down in 1-2 weeks in field tests. In comparison, estimates suggest that conventional golf balls take between 100-1 000 years to break down in the ocean. Conventional balls were legally banned for use in the ocean, which put paid to holiday-makers on cruise ships practicing their golf swings. Biodegradable golf balls provide a viable alternative.

Lobster shells are thoroughly cleaned, dried and ground to a fine powder before being incorporated into a proprietary biodegradable binder and moulded into golf balls. The coating used is also biodegradable and the raw materials for the balls cost as little as about R1/ball, which should make them comparable with currently available biodegradable balls.