In recent years, our nation has become increasingly aware of the effect our decisions have made on our planet. From climate change being more prominent to new developments in recycling and the way we consume, we are slowly opening our eyes to see that the way we are operating is not always the most efficient or environmentally friendly. One main source of waste that people are beginning to tune in to is the issue of packaging waste in our mailing system; Styrofoam being the biggest perpetrator. The lightweight inexpensive foam is used in packaging to protect the goods that consumers purchase from the fast-pace recklessness of packaging and mailing companies in their frenzy to deliver quickly. However, this helpful pillow is made from resources that are not necessarily infinite or clean. Once it is created, it takes hundreds of years to break back down again. This problem only becomes more prominent over time with continued use—unless we can find a worthy replacement. Companies like Ecovative have been working to do just that using mushrooms. I wa
nt to analyze: can mushroom packaging have a positive impact on the waste we use in shipping and will the change be impactful enough to make a significant difference?
Ecovative Design is a company who has been working on a moldable, compostable, and environmentally safe alternative to Styrofoam packaging. Since their 2007 development, they have launched a website stemming from their company and it has made quite the name for itself. The material is made from agricultural waste, which they obtain from regional farmers, sort, and clean before growing. They then use Mycelium, the root structure of a mushroom, and add it to the waste, hemp, and flour to create a binding they refer to as “nature’s glue”. The growing process takes place in PET plastic trays which can be reused and recycled. They seal the mixture in the trays and leave them to grow for 4 days, pop them out to allow overgrowth for two more days, and finally a drying process to prevent further growth. Finally, it is molded into the desired shape and used in shipping currently for companies like Dell, Ikea, Gunlocke, and Bolt Threads. More companies are seeing the positive effects of this product and the success other companies are having and making the switch.
There are many benefits to companies making this switch that could end up making significant difference in the way we handle shipping waste. One benefit is that this material is 100% home-compostable, meaning that it does not have to be taken to a special facility in order to be broken down. It is said to take 30-90 days to decompose—competing immensely with Styrofoam’s life of 500+ years. With the growth and creation process of the Mycelium being only 9 days, there can be fast creation and manipulation that is unmatched in another natural product. Additionally, many companies err on the side of Styrofoam because it is the cheapest option. However, Ecovative has provided a chart (Figure 1) on their website that shows the costs per tray that a company would be paying for in a smaller scale volume. As you can see, cost would seldom be an issue, especially once a company increases the number of trays they are purchasing to ship their products. This is especially important because with the Mycelium, there is no clean-up fee that has to be paid from the production. California recently estimated that their Styrofoam and plastic bag clean-up costs them up to $72 billion per year.
With these benefits come some downfalls, though. Ecovative has admitted that while their products are clean and safe for packaging, it is not certified to carry foods in its current state. They say that when repeatedly immersed in water or in constant saturation, it will become susceptible to degradation and lose its rigid qualities. They did mention that replacing Styrofoam in the food/drink industry is an interest, but they are not quite there yet. Another downside is that this product takes 9 full days to grow, when Styrofoam can be made in mass quantities within 2-3 days. However, we as humans have been hyper-aware to the negative effects the production of Styrofoam has been having on our world and we are seeing that the time availability is not always worth the costs—both environmentally and financially.
Styrofoam has moved more to the forefront of our environmental movement in recent years because of its overwhelming production, use, and waste. “Styrofoam and Styrofoam products fill up 30% of our landfill space” (Little, 2018). This 30% equates to about 2.5 million tons of Styrofoam currently sitting in our landfills. Styrofoam is made of non-biodegradable resources including benzene (derived from petroleum), styrene, and pentane gas. It is said to take up to 500 years for any Styrofoam container to decompose, and even when it does, the toxins would not be welcomed by the Earth. One illusion about Styrofoam is that it is affordable and cost-effective, when in reality, if you total up the cost of “clean-ups, carbon emissions, and health effects, the hidden cost of Styrofoam comes out to $7 billion annually” (Chandra, 2019). In addition to the landfills, 20% of Styrofoam ends up in our waterways and effects the lives of many animals and their habitats in fatal ways. Our fast-paced lives often lead to carelessness which is why so much of our waste is in the wrong places. It certainly does not help that our waste is created from harsh and harmful materials.
One of the biggest differences between the two products is the amount of energy that is used in production for each product. Manufacturing Styrofoam in mass quantities requires extreme heat during the steaming and forming process, operation of heavy machinery, hot copper wires to cut through the material, and human laborers to clean up and guide the process through smoothly. Overall, an average of 14 million tons of Styrofoam is produced globally each year. It takes 157,920,000,000 Kwh of energy to make Styrofoam in the quantity that the world is currently producing. The energy to create Ecovative’s mushroom packaging is only 12% of Styrofoam’s number. If Ecovative was to make the same quantity of 14 million tons per year, it would only use 18,950,400,000 Kwh of energy; the grand difference being 138,969,600,000 Kwh of saved energy between the two. All of these can be seen in the calculation below. This is substantial enough to make a huge difference, not only just with energy but toxic emissions and non-biodegradable litter.
The Mycelium takes a different, more natural approach. Because of its simplicity and nature-derived properties, Ecovative even makes Grow It Yourself products where consumers can grow their own mushroom packaging material. In mass productions, it requires little to know machinery besides transport and irrigation needs. A natural process creates a natural product that is safe, and in some cases beneficial, to have on our planet while also saving billions of Kwh of energy that can be directed to help in other areas that require energy to operate.
Styrofoam energy use:
\[ 14,000,000 \text{ tons} \times \frac{1000 \text{ pounds}}{1 \text{ ton}} \times \frac{11.28 \text{ Kwh}}{1 \text{ pound}} = 157,920,000,000 \text{ Kwh} \]
Estimated Mycelium energy use:
\[ 157,920,000,000 \text{ Kwh} \times 0.12 = 18,950,400,000 \text{ Kwh} \]
Difference in energy consumption:
\[ 157,920,000,000 – 18,950,400,000 = 138,969,600,000 \]
Styrofoam is clearly an example of an “easy-way-out” that our world has taken. We are now starting to see the effects of our single-use ways, and companies like Ecovative have presented a solution to remove it from our shipping. The mushroom based packaging has shown to be a step in the right direction not only benefitting the environment, but the cost of shipping for companies and the overall efficiency of shipment. Significant differences in energy use, cleaner production processes, and a healthier afterlife show us that there is a positive impact in motion for packaging. As people and companies learn about this alternative, hopefully it will initiate change in the way they operate their mailing. Solutions to our environmental struggles can be right under our noses, it just takes some experimentation and the right supplies to turn our natural resources into useful day-to-day essentials.
Bibliography:
Little, M. (2019, July 2). Facts About Landfill & Styrofoam. Retrieved from https://sciencing.com/facts-about-landfill-styrofoam-5176735.html.
Sustainability – Energy Savings: World Centric. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.worldcentric.org/sustainability/energy-savings.
Time, W. D. H. (2019, January 9). IKEA Starts Using Biodegradable Mushroom-Based Packaging for Its Products. Retrieved from https://medium.com/wedonthavetime/ikea-starts-using-biodegradable-mushroom-based-packaging-for-its-products-42d079f98bb1.
The “real cost” of Styrofoam shows more than meets the eye. (2017, October 10). Retrieved from https://greendiningalliance.org/2016/12/the-real-cost-of-styrofoam/.
Home: Packaging products grown from mushroom mycelium. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://mushroompackaging.com/.
Fact Sheet: How Much Disposable Plastic We Use. (2019, January 8). Retrieved from https://www.earthday.org/2018/04/18/fact-sheet-how-much-disposable-plastic-we-use/.