Eben Bayer, is a co-inventor of mycobond, an organic adhesive that turns agriwaste into a foam material for packaging and insulation. Eben Bayer says he has a new organic recipe for a packaging material that protects fragile things from being damaged while in the box. A new age, 100 percent compostable Styrofoam. It is not made up of all the chemicals that Styrofoam is, or the "toxic white stuff", as Bayer puts it.
Eben Bayer took the hard facts of how bad Styrofoam is for the earth and all its habitants. He states that twenty billion dollars is spent every year on making things out of Styrofoam, from surf boards, coffee cups, to table tops, packaging material for just about everything we buy that comes in a box. According to the EPA, Styrofoam eats up about 25% of all landfills. Styrofoam does not go away, it will be around for thousands of years after use. It may be broken down into tiny microscopic pieces, so we cant see it, but we are breathing it.
He helped invent a new type of packaging. This packaging is made from mushrooms. It is completely compostable, does not cost any more to make it then Styrofoam, and only uses 10 percent of the energy to make than that of Styrofoam. The process of making this new packaging material takes about 5 days, but the mushrooms do most of the work. Mycobond is created by using natural growth process of fungus call mycelium. It is produced from crop waste like seed husks, seed husks and mushroom roots, (which bind the food scraps as they eat them). Again the foam is organic and compostable.
Material can be used as:
-fire retardants
-Insulation
-packaging components
Although the Internet dubs it to be catching on quickly, I feel as though its not quickly enough. If this new material is not toxic, completely compostable and cost as much to make as regular Styrofoam, then someone should start spreading the word and making it mandatory for companies to use this new mushroom packaging.
No comments:
Post a Comment