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kepanotoday at 1:56 PM2 repliesview on HN

There are a few companies in this space, notably Ecovative, who have been trying to make mycelium-based packaging for almost two decades.

The problem is that it takes around 7 days for each piece of packaging to "grow", and the finished part is heavy and not compressible so it adds significant cost in manufacturing, storage and transit. And these costs don't get any better with scale.

For those reasons, mycelium packaging hasn't seen much adoption beyond being used as a marketing story for high-priced small goods. Environmentally forward companies have tended towards paper-based solutions like molded fiber.


Replies

Tepixtoday at 3:13 PM

Heavy?

Two packages made from mycelium can behave very differently because “mycelium composite” is a category, not a single recipe. Particle size, fibre content, and the ratio of substrate to mycelium all change density. Higher density generally brings higher compressive strength and better edge definition, but it also increases weight and can reduce the springy cushioning that protective packaging needs.

Source: https://dirobots.com/en/mycelium-strength/

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mrsvanwinkletoday at 2:33 PM

Like real mold on fiber or

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