Mushrooms the new material for protective packaging: with video

Ecovative Design’s EcoCradle is made from the firm’s Mycobond composite of mushroom roots and agricultural waste that can be used as compost after the products are shipped.

Founders Gavin McIntyre and Eben Bayer said the manufacture uses an eighth of the energy of foam packaging and a tenth of the carbon dioxide.

“We don’t manufacture materials, we grow them. We’re converting agricultural by-products into a higher-value product,” said McIntyre.

To see how the product is made, scroll down for a YouTube video.

The next stage of development is to create a less-energy intensive sterilisation process for the starter material that would reduce the energy required in manufacture to one fortieth of that of expanded polymers.

McIntyre said the material also benefited on an economic level as it was not prone to price fluctuations. “All of our raw materials are inherently renewable and they are literally waste streams,” he said.

McIntyre and Bayer are replacing a steam-heat sterilisation process with a treatment made from cinnamon-bark oil, thyme oil, oregano oil and lemongrass oil.

The research is being backed by an $180,000 grant from the US National Science Foundation.

As well as the packaging, Ecovative has also created insulation made from the material.

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