How green (or sanitary) could it be to throw a big ole' hunk of feces in your washing machine?

What if bottles, bags, and other plastic products could be made from biodegradable materials? Oh, wait, they can be!

Have you heard of biodegradable plastic products made from a substance called PLA?

PLA (polylactic acid) is a resin that is mostly made from, you better believe it, corn (although it can be made from other starchy sources such as potatoes).

As Elizabeth Royte from the Smithsonian Magazine puts it, "[This is] an industrial resin poised to become--if you can believe all the hype--the future of plastic in a post-petroleum world".

That said, are PLA products safe? Are they really biodegradable? Do they really save energy and money?