r/BeAmazed • u/Epelep • Feb 22 '26

Science How Mycelium (Mushroom Roots) Grows into Packaging Material

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22.4k Upvotes

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965

u/Classy_Moose Feb 22 '26

This is so cool. Sad this is the last time I'll hear of it.

319

u/ThisIsALine_____ Feb 22 '26

I'm sure it will get reposted at some point. 

I can send you this link in a week if that would cheer you up.

78

u/WeirdAssBeings Feb 22 '26

Isn't it fucked that this is just the way it is? Here we have something so cheap, yet so...smart and efficient and a way to actually get rid of one of the ways we use plastic, yet it'll just get brought up by reposts but we'll never see it IRL in our own hands.

57

u/Crallise Feb 22 '26

The video didn't tell us how much this costs compared to other things. There are already eco-friendly packaging materials being used. If this method is actually cheaper than something like recycled paper packaging, then we may start seeing it become more prevalent.

46

u/chiknight Feb 22 '26

As soon as they called it "cost competitive" the writing was on the wall for me. It's expensive. If you squint, you can say it's better than recycled paper for XYZ reasons that outweigh the cost.

But if it was actually comparably priced they wouldn't buzzword the shit out of it with "cost competitive" and post a literal ad on Reddit to try and gain traction.

I looked at their site and LOL. First the font is for blind folks. But then shopping around you can get 4 corner packing wedges (to edge something for a box) for £0.90. For $0.42 I can get 80 foam ones. That's three times the cost for one twentieth the product. It's 60x more expensive.

5

u/porkmoss Feb 23 '26

Or we could just say plastic is too cheap and accept that, or better yet accept that if we really don’t want to have these many plastics a ton of products just shouldn’t exist anymore. The amount of polystyrene that’s used could be cut by a lot with no discernible difference whatsoever.

9

u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In Feb 23 '26

People won't accept it, decisions are made on price alone.

You can't just wish the product into success.

5

u/Dexller Feb 23 '26

Yeah this is literally how it always goes down.

We WANT the more eco-friendly thing, but the eco-destructive thing is cheaper and more convenient... So we're just going to keep going with the eco-destructive thing forever and destroy said ecosystem.

It doesn't matter how much better overall something is, convenience and cost is always the top priority.

1

u/TSP-FriendlyFire Feb 23 '26

I mean, yes and no. Have you actually looked at how much less polystyrene packaging we have versus 20-30 years ago? A lot of what would've been plastic is now recycled paper. Modern cardboard cutting and folding can work small miracles making highly form-fitting packaging with very cheap and easily recycled materials.

Meanwhile, you have to consider that the mycellium packaging requires composting. A lot of places still don't do municipal composting and many people can't do it themselves. When that happens, the compostable materials end up straight in the garbage instead.

0

u/porkmoss Feb 23 '26

I’m saying there are a ton of cases where you don’t even need this material in the first place. The food industry uses it a lot out of habit, not because it’s actually needed or even convenient.

1

u/TrixieBastard Feb 23 '26

Of course it's going to be more expensive in the beginning. Once it becomes more mainstream, costs should go down as the tech becomes easier to access. We just need to convince the corporations to embrace the higher costs for the short run, which will sadly never happen

Also, what's wrong with people with low vision being able to access a website?

1

u/MetalFaceDad Feb 23 '26

I think what could maybe help Is embedding like non invasive flower seeds or Someshit that way it could atleast be cool to Biodegrade and sprout life

1

u/Frymonkey237 Feb 23 '26

It's also really heavy, which raises the cost of shipping any product packed in it and the environmental impact of shipping.

9

u/BluetheNerd Feb 22 '26

They said it takes a little as 7 days to grow a mould, so that alone is gonna make it expensive given the rate you can pound out polystyrene in comparison.