Researchers in the US are hoping to substitute chicken feathers for petroleum in some plastics, and at least two companies are working to produce items from flower pots to office furniture.

The technology would allow the US to cut back on its oil use, however slightly, and give poultry producers another market for the more than 3 billion feathers leftover each year.

Researchers say the challenge is coming up with products that manufacturers and consumers want at a price that is right.

Sonny Meyerhoeffer, president of Eastern Bioplastics in Virginia, which sells gardening containers made from 40% keratin resin from feathers, says it will be at least a year before products are sold that are made completely from bioresins.

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