INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — One of the selling points of the runner-up winner in this year’s ISA student competition, if it gets to market, might be its environmentally-safe packaging.

Soycotta Pots co-developer Chelsea Sullivan explained the transplantable flowerpot made of soy-derived meal, protein binder and wax is eco-friendly since it biodegrades beneficially to its environment. This was a strong marketing theme across many of the 13 projects this year, including two others that didn’t take home awards.

The Soy Six Pack developed by Chaoqun Ding of Ningbo, China, Aalok Gaitonde of Mumbai, India, and Alexis Laureano of Warsaw, Ind., might eventually become an environmentalist’s dream. The three engineering students set out to invent something that could be practical for humans while not too imposing on nature – so they took on the plastic six-pack soda ring.

Criticized by environmentalists for entrapping and choking curious wildlife when discarded into nature, the plastic holder is nonetheless inexpensive, light and simple. The team worked on creating something that could replace it, but break down much faster and be nontoxic and just as inexpensive to manufacture.

In these qualities, they succeeded. Laureano said the plastic made almost entirely of soy materials biodegrades in water in about an hour and is even edible. Ding added they estimate in volume, it could cost as much or less to make than plastic rings.

But, the team wasn’t able to overcome the need for the rings to stay dry until discarded. Too, “it’s not as strong as we’d like it to be,” Laureano admitted.

Another team – Clairissa Corpstein from Noblesville, Ind., and Geena Tumidalsky of Chesterton, Ind., both biochemistry majors, and Jen Werner, chemistry, Hoffman Estates, Ill. – invented Soysalt. This is an effort to replace road and sidewalk salt put down in winter, an idea Tumidalsky said she got from a conversation with her mom. A key feature of Soysalt is it does not contain the calcium ion, which is corrosive, so it would be safer for the environment after ice and snow have melted.

But, Corpstein said it has about the same melting power: “We know it melts as well as other salts do.”

Something else the women found in their testing was that crushed soybeans themselves (aside from the soy-based salt) made a good, absorbent material for providing traction on roads and sidewalks.

One problem for Soysalt – perhaps a big one, considering the volume needed – is because of the linolenic acid derived from soy, it would probably be more expensive than regular road salt.