Most
people think of mushrooms as a tasty salad ingredient or pizza topping, but
several farmers and engineers are finding that they’re equally suitable for
replacing Styrofoam in packaging material, replacing fiberglass and foam for
insulation, and replacing concrete for buildings.
Mycelium fibers are proving strong,
fire-proof and waterproof.
Essentially,
mushroom farmers are devising clever ways to mold the fibrous cells—called
mycelium—from which certain strains of mushrooms blossom, into various shapes.
Last
week, Time magazine ran a feature on Far West Fungi, a California farm that
is experimenting with molding mycelium into cinder block-like shapes. From the
article:
"Mycelium
doesn't taste very good, but once it's dried, it has some remarkable
properties. It's nontoxic, fireproof and mold- and water-resistant, and it
traps more heat than fiberglass insulation. It's also stronger, pound for
pound, than concrete."
A
young engineer named Eben Bayer is also garnering significant acclaim (and
research grants) for his work with mycelium. "We see this as a whole new
material, a woodlike equivalent to plastic," he said in a recent
interview. His 3-year-old startup, Ecovative Design, has been
awarded grants from the EPA, the National Science Foundation and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. His mycelium colonies feed on flour, water, and even
the seed husks of rice and cotton, making the whole operation extremely
sustainable.
The
company's products include Ecocradle, an alternative to Styrofoam units for
packaging, and Greensulate, which delivers the equivalent heat retention per
inch as conventional foam insulation.
The
advantage of using mycelium-based materials is that they biodegrade completely
and can actually be used as mulch to help improve garden yields.
In
fact, a 2005 book titled “Mycelium Running” asserts
that mycelium can actually rehabilitate soil that’s been polluted with
chemicals like chlorinated hydrocarbons. Author Paul Stamets found that soil
contaminated with diesel oil was rendered non-toxic within eight weeks by
oyster mushroom mycelia.
This
process is gaining popularity in the bioremediation industry—which is best
known for cleaning up oil spills with bacterial agents.
Bacteria
and fungi—natural promoters of biodegradation—don’t work on heavy metals,
though. For that, bioremediation companies use plants that can absorb metal
toxicity from soil, in a process called phytoremediation. The plants accumulate
the toxins in their stems and leaves, which are then harvested and disposed of
safely. The soil is then rendered safe for future crops, and the toxins are
prevented from leaching into groundwater.
Getting
back to the mushrooms, we’re impressed with the creativity and entrepreneurial
spirit that goes into researching and producing wholly organic, cheap-to-grow
and easy-to-recycle materials. Green products and companies are growing in
popularity now that the economy may be rebounding (witness the recent ad
campaign promoting SunChips and their
compostable packaging), and consumers may be willing to pay a slight premium
for eco-friendly goods, especially when they’re just as good (if not better)
than their conventional counterparts.
Would you
pay a little extra for home products that are greener and more sustainable? Add
your comments here!
