MycoComposite™
id card
Mycelium + hemp herd
composition
Chitin, Cellulose
building blocks
Organic
material origin
Blocks
shape
9 – actual system proven in operational environment
TRL
MycoComposite™ is a technology that upcycles farming and forestry byproducts through the employment of mushroom mycelia and their branching root structures.
The process enables sustainable biofabrication of eco-friendly packaging & protection, along with construction materials, architectural elements and more.
MycoComposite™ products are grown to achieve the wanted custom shape.
Properties
Durable & sturdy.
Plastic-free.
100% home-compostable at end-of-life. All the more, Ecovative made an easy to follow video on how to compost the MycoComposite™ pieces for you to eyeball.
Does not biodegrade in use!
Cyclability
Cradle to Cradle Gold certified.
Home compost – 45 days
Compostable at home – Take a moment and imagine you could just store away unusable packaging stuff in a compost bin instead of increasing the pile for the garbage car!
Marine compost – 180 days
If Mushroom® Packaging ends up in the ocean, it’s certified fish food. That is the one common good Ecovative goes after. It’s not just about carbondioxide, it’s about toxicity reduction for the planet as a whole.
APPLICATIONS
A justified alternative to product packaging! Mushroom® Packaging uses MycoComposite™ to grow fully compostable protective packaging in an endless variety of custom shapes. Here to reduce your appetite for styrofoam and other polystyrene foam products.
Building and Construction – MycoComposite™ hemp blend is naturally flame-retardant, and it's providing insulation and noise-dampening benefits to any space.
Grow-it-yourself kits – For growing your own hemp–and–mycelium creations at home. Grow.Bio is a great place to grab one if you feel like testing the kit out.
Aerated Bed System – With Ecovative's large format MycoComposite™ trays, forms can be grown (not manufactured!) ready to use in products like wetland rafts and door cores, let's say.
Though, you can get even more creative. Customers are free to submit 3D models of their Mushroom® Packaging inserts to the company designers for them to develop & deliver. However, we at HM have some questions regarding the afterlife of the plastic molds used for production!
FOOTWEAR APPLICATIONS
Packaging
Production process
Hemp herds and mycelium are put together in a mold, following the certain shape specifications. The mold is afterwards covered to make it watertight, letting the cells form beautifully intricate 3D networks of mycelia that feed, and later become the material, the object or the very product. This means that objects are truly grown as a whole – a piece of packaging, a chair, even a whole building!
Growth takes 7 days, after what the mycelial objects get demolded and dehydrated to stop them from growing any further. The object / panel / packaging is then ready for use.
Manufacturing facts
It takes 7 days to grow the desired objects. The capacity and lead time depends on the organisation and size of the production facility.
production time
Most of the mycelium composites and mycelium materials you read about are actually made under license from Ecovative (they have over 40 patents in 31 countries on the fundamental art of mycelium materials). Ecovative makes it very easy to start a business with this technology though.
the factory
Behind the screen
Gavin McIntyre & Eben Bayer
founders
2007
Green Island, NY, USA
time & place
Bolt Threads, PVH, Pangaia, The Reformation, Vivobarefoot, Bestseller, Magical Mushroom, Grow.bio
partnerships
CERTIFICATIONS
ASTM D6866 - 99% +/- 2% Biobased content
ISO 16929 - Compostable
USP / EU Pharmacopia List of Pesticides: Not Detected