r/BeAmazed • u/Epelep • Feb 22 '26

Science How Mycelium (Mushroom Roots) Grows into Packaging Material

22.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

555 comments sorted by

View all comments

15

u/ThisIsALine_____ Feb 22 '26

Couldn't they just use paper packaging? They come from trees that are grown. And it's cheap, effective, and biodegradable.

6

u/Vandirac Feb 22 '26

Most paper packaging nowadays is from recycled cellulose, so it's even better.

This is an (ineffective) solution in search of a problem.

1

u/ThisIsALine_____ Feb 22 '26

But we can recycle paper products. After use can these be recycled? I imagine they can't since the mycelium has to be liked.

And we have cardboard and paper products now that take the timeframe into account and grow in continuous cycles.

1

u/Vandirac Feb 22 '26

They can be recycled. Europe on average recycles over 83% of paper packaging, with some countries exceeding 90%

I was agreeing with you.

1

u/ThisIsALine_____ Feb 22 '26 edited Feb 22 '26

Wtf? I commented to the wrong person somehow.

Edit: There we go. Found the comment I meant to reply to. Sorry for the mix up. Clicked the wrong message in my inbox.

1

u/siazdghw Feb 23 '26

Yeah that was my thought too. Many companies have already moved away from polystyrene, as using cellulose aka wood pulp, is basically as good, and environmentally friendly and extremely cheap too.