Green Architecture & Building Products

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Material or Product

Ecovative Mushroom Packaging

Source

EcoCradle packaging is made with MycoBond, a product that is developed with mushroom roots to transform agricultural waste products into strong and compostable packing materials and insulation. EcoCradle packaging material is composed of agricultural byproducts (cotton gin trash or other local inedible agri-waste) bound together by fungal mycelium. Mycelium is the uneaten, interwoven thread-like portion of the fungus (people eat the meaty bloom), and it has the appearance and functionality of polymer foams. EcoCradle can be manufactured with one-eighth the energy and one-tenth the carbon dioxide emission of traditional petroleum-based foam packing material. Mycobond could replace styrofoam.

Mycobond itself is a mycological bio-composite that transforms loose aggregates into strong composites. The process can be varied by using different species of fungus and mixtures of aggregates to make a composite with an optimal density, strength, appearance, and performance for a specific application. Mycobond represents a low-embodied-energy manufacturing process as the material self assembles at room temperature and pressure, in the dark. Mycobond upcycles waste resources like rice hulls, cotton burrs and buckwheat hulls that are otherwise thrown away, transforming them into valuable products, including rigid board insulation and protective packaging buffers.