Two American companies are jointly producing furniture, bricks and packaging material made from mushroom mould filaments and agricultural waste.
Picture: bioMASON
This new method of production exclusively uses natural material. The mycelium from mushrooms acts as a binding agent for agricultural waste such as husks and maize stalks. The resulting substance continues to grow in moulds under the influence of microorganisms and can therefore be moulded into any desired shape. In addition to bio-furniture, such as stools and tables, surfboards have now also been produced using the same process.
CO2 savings
All you have to do to produce biological bricks and reinforce furniture elements is add sand and waste water to the biological substance. There is no need to heat the bio-bricks or add clay. According to the American producers, Ecovative and bioMASON, this leads to considerable CO2 savings.
Insulation material
Ecovative also produces sustainable packaging material from mushroom moulds under the name of MycoFoam, which is a sustainable alternative to Styrofoam and insulation material. Large companies such as Dell are already using this material in the packaging. Ikea is also interested in the biological packaging as part of its efforts to reduce waste and recycle more material.
