Duo develops biodegradable packaging

GREEN ISLAND, NY — Two businessmen recently developed a green alternative to polystyrene packaging that uses 10 times less energy to produce and biodegrades into a natural fertilizer, according to the American Free Press.

Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, classmates from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), founded Ecovative Design in 2007 to produce EcoCradle — packaging made from farm waste and mushrooms whose manufacture generates zero greenhouse gas emissions, the story stated.

Bayer, chief executive officer (CEO) of Ecovative Design, said: "For each unit of EcoCradle we produce, compared to the same unit or volume of polystyrene, we use 10 times less energy and emit eight times less CO₂ over the life of the product from production, use and to disposal. Our long-term vision is actually to replace all plastic and foams and mitigate their environmental consequences ... and this natural platform we have discovered or invented will allow us to do that."

According to the story, polystyrene is so prevalent in the packaging industry that it accounts for 30 percent of all the waste in United States landfills.

EcoCradle is made from agricultural byproducts including cottonseed hulls, buckwheat hulls and rice husk that are mixed with mycelium — a fungal bonding agent — and allowed to grow inside molds, the story noted.

According to the article, the mycelium secretes a powerful enzyme that decomposes the organic waste as it grows, and after seven days at room temperature in the dark, a compact, ultralight, malleable material is formed that can resist temperatures of up to 800 degrees Celsius (1,472 Fahrenheit).

EcoCradle, a patented trademark in the United States and 30 other countries that doubles as an environmentally preferable insulation, has a production cost comparable to that of polystyrene, the story added.

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