Illinois manufactured its vehicle license plates out of a soy-based fiberboard during the height of World War II to conserve metal for military efforts.

A closer look

Illinois manufactured its vehicle license plates out of a soy-based fiberboard during the height of World War II to conserve metal for military efforts. These biodegradable plates were issued between 1943 and 1948, but the state quickly discovered a major design flaw when local farm animals, particularly goats and cows, began treating parked cars as all-you-can-eat buffets. Nothing says American ingenuity quite like inventing an eco-friendly piece of bureaucratic identification that actively attracts hungry livestock to your bumper. It remains a shining example of why sustainable infrastructure is hard, especially when your brilliant solution to a global supply chain crisis is accidentally inventing the world's least aerodynamic and most highly regulated veggie burger