Promoter organisation: Ecovative LLC is a materials that provides sustainable alternatives to plastics and polystyrene foams for packaging, building materials and other applications by using mushroom technology.
Country: New York /world wide
What: Ecovative is a pioneering startup that operates in the sustainable materials industry. The company specializes in the development and production of materials derived from mycelium, the vegetative part of a fungus. By utilizing agricultural byproducts, Ecovative creates eco-friendly alternatives to plastics, leather, meat, and other unsustainable products. The company’s innovative approach involves growing complete structures with mycelium, a process that is both unique and environmentally friendly.
How: Ecovative’s business model is centered around licensing its technology to other companies in the U.S. and globally. It generates revenue by offering its sustainable materials for use in various industries, including packaging, fashion, and beauty. The company also provides a service for growing mycelium materials at scale in vertical farms, offering a sustainable alternative to products derived from fossil fuels and factory farming.
Ecovative makes fully compostable packaging products, building materials, leather and food made from mushroom roots or ‘mycelium’ branded MycoComposite™. In a circular economy, products can be designed to break down naturally after use as they would in the natural world. Ecovative’s environmentally friendly packaging has the protective properties of polystyrene packaging (EPS) but doesn’t contribute to the 8 millions tonnes of plastic that enter our oceans every year. It can be safely disposed of at home.
The founders of Ecovative Design were inspired by the way mushrooms growing on wood chips bonded them together with their roots.
Ecovative uses mycelium – mushroom roots and low value agricultural feedstock (part of the plants that cannot be used for food) to make their packaging.
“We’re using mushrooms to create an entirely new class of materials which perform a lot like plastic.”
Mycelium is a fungal network of threadlike cells that acts like a natural, self-assembling glue. It grows in 5-7 days without needing any light or water, digesting agricultural by-products and binding into any shape needed.
This enabled the team to create a new method of producing materials that can replace various products, including petroleum-based expanded plastics and particle board made using carcinogenic formaldehyde.
In the process, Ecovative introduces the low value agricultural feedstock which is cleaned and inoculated with the mushroom tissue.
At the end of the process, the material goes through a dehydration and heat treating process to stop the growth and to ensure the absence of spores or allergens.
When: 2007
Why it is relevant:
SUSTAINABILITY
1.2 Substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
1.3 Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and production
1.7 Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality
EFFICIENCY
2.2. The design and implementation of the practice answers to real problems of the target group or specific challenges that the country is facing (nationally, regionally, locally).
2.3. The practice achieved the mobilization of appropriate stakeholders which have a statutory responsibility for specific issues.
2.4. The means to achieve the social and financial objectives were appropriate and were adapted to the specific requirements of the practice.
TRANSFERABILITY
3.1. The practice may be repeated in the same or other geographical and / or sector level using the same methods.
3.2. The practice may be a model for similar actions in other geographical and / or organizational environment.
INNOVATION
4.1. New methods of design and implementation procedures were introduced which have not been applied before in the country/region.
4.2. The practice incorporated / promoted ICT use or solutions that reduce environmental impact (less CO2 emissions)
4.3. The practice has promoted new forms of partnership, cooperation and networking among stakeholders.
4.4. The practice utilized expertise and experiences from other countries.
Target Groups: The company’s target market includes large businesses interested in sustainable materials, as well as educational institutions that may use their Grow-It-Yourself (GIY) materials for educational purposes. Ecovative also has plans to expand its product offerings to include compostable materials for industries where such options are not yet commercially available.
RESULTS OF THE GOOD PRACTICE
5.1. This practice led to in environmental status.
5.2. The practice covered the needs of the target group.
5.3. The changes brought about by the practice offered an added value to national, regional or local level.
5.4. The results of the practice can be measured.