Can Mushrooms Replace Plastic and make a better planet to
live on?
Styrofoam, expanded polystyrene foam, used in disposable
coffee cups, building materials and the predominant form of packaging for
electrical products such as computers and televisions, will remain in the
environment for thousands and thousands of years. Totally incompatible biologically with the
natural environment, it is both costly to produce; every single cubic foot of
this product uses the energy content of one and a half litres of petrol.
(Styrofoam)
Green development has shown that nature has provided the
answer to start eradicating the need for such materials using mushrooms. Using
mycelium, the mass of branching filaments that spread submerged below soil or
organic matter; natural waste products such as agricultural bi-products can be
transformed by the unique self assembling material into polymers. These can be moulded into materials that have
many different properties, such as water and fire resistance, insulating and impact
absorption, and are 100 percent compostable when no longer needed. When
eventually the product is no longer needed, it can be put back into the natural
environment and will improve the quality of the local soil.
(Close-up of Styrofoam)
To produce such products takes only a few simple steps and
can be done locally to helps reduce the carbon footprint of manufacture and
transport. The mycelium does all the work, and it will create a product
comparable to Styrofoam that has a 100 percent yield rate so produces no waste.
Step 1 – Select the feedstock – something local to the
environment, such as oat, rice or corn husks, which will be cleaned, cooked,
cooled and pasteurised and inoculated with the mycelium.
Step 2 – Fill a mould with the feedstock.
Step 3 – Grow the mycelium through the feedstock in the
dark, process takes a five day growth cycle, the mycelium will have created a matrix
of tiny fibres that has digested the feedstock.
Finally you have the manufactured product.
(Mushroom Packaging Example)
(Mushroom Packaging Example)
(Mushroom Packaging Example)
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