Goodbye, Styrofoam:
Using polymers from fungi to replace plastics and make
products that can be recycled in natural ecosystems
Julian Hadley, Ecologist and Data Analyst
Ecovative Design LLC
Green Island, NY 12183
Ecovative Design is a young company founded in 2007. Ecovative’s goal is to develop Earth-compatible products to replace current products that do not decompose and are polluting the earth and its ecosystems. Plastics, particularly Styrofoam, are a large part of the global solid waste pollution problem. Ecovative is particularly focused on replacing plastics and other petroleum derivatives in packaging, consumer goods, and building products.
Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, the founders of Ecovative, invented Mushroom Materials®. These are a radically new type of manufactured materials that use the penetrating and binding abilities of fungi to turn little-used and low-value agricultural and forestry byproducts into new higher value products. These products currently include protective packaging, building insulation, and building or furniture components that contain no petroleum products and are biodegradable in natural ecosystems.
Ecovative is turning the one-way trip of consumer products, from factory to home to landfill, into a cycle. In this cycle, a product at the end of its useful life decomposes to release nutrients and plant structural compounds into the soil, where they can contribute to the growth of new life. In this talk, Julian Hadley will present Ecovative’s products and then show he made garden compost with Ecovative’s protective packaging and used that compost to grow food.