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Unwrap presents, plant broccoli with the paper

Discarded holiday wrapping paper can get pretty insane. This paper is embedded with vegetable seeds, though, so you can bury it and grow your dinner.

Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
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A lot of wrapping paper gets wasted during the holiday season. Sure, some of it ends up in the recycling bin, and some even gets folded and saved for reuse. But a lot ends up in the garbage, too.

A UK company seeking funding on Kickstarter has found a novel way to make wrapping paper reusable: embedding it with vegetable seeds, similar to plantable greeting cards.

Called Eden's Paper, it's constructed of two layers of recycled paper, with one side printed in vegetable-based ink and seeds sandwiched between the layers in rows. The idea is that you plant each 18x28-inch sheet flat, and your vegetables will grow in straight lines. There are five to choose from: broccoli, tomato, carrot, onion, and chilli.

It's a little on the pricy side -- the 5-pound Kickstarter reward (about $8) is one sheet of wrapping paper (plus shipping), which might be a little hard to justify for all your presents. But if you have a friend with a green thumb, it might be a thoughtful way to package a gift.

(Source: Crave Australia)