The US army has come up with a unique plan to make biodegradable bullets that can sprout into plants when left in the soil. According to indy100, the Department of Defence has sent an official request to create bullets with a seed embedded in it.
This initiative came as an effort to minimalise the effect of ammunition debris during training programmes as well as wars. The US Army uses live ammunition to train their soldiers and these empty cartridges are left behind in the wild, reported iflscience.com. These bullets often contain components that do not decompose even after hundreds of years and eventually leach into the environment and cause harm to wildlife and plants.
Thus to combat this problem, officials initiated a website last November where they are asking for ideas to create these bullets. The winning contractor will be joining forces with the US Army Corps of Engineers' Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) to manufacture the ammunition, according to reports.
The website states: "Develop biodegradable training ammunition loaded with specialized seeds to grow environmentally beneficial plants that eliminate ammunition debris and contaminants."
The rough idea about the bullet, which will range from 40mm–120mm training rounds, says that they will have a seed embedded to the biodegradable composites inside the bullet and will germinate into plants in few months after touching the ground. We can only hope that if successful, this idea might turn battlegrounds into green forests.
