Material of the Week #8: Mycelium

Just now

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Fully compostable!

Mycelium is a bio-material that is made of tiny threads called hyphae. Spores, tiny reproductive cells, are mixed with farm waste which is then packed into molds. The mycelium grows in around 5–7 days and is heat-dried to stop the growth. The composite is very lightweight and a good insulator. Another cool fact is that it is fire-resistant, and as mentioned earlier fully compostable! However, mycelium is not as strong as plastic or wood and is hard to produce at a large scale.

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Mycelium in the real world is used in a variety of items from packaging to construction and in some cases, food. Although this composite is not that common, at the moment it is being proposed as an alternative to Styrofoam with Dell and IKEA having tested it. Construction-wise, mycelium is used in bricks, insulation panels, and acoustic tiles. In food, the material is used as a meat alternative due to its long and fibrous threads that give it a meat-like texture without the processing that plant proteins need to imitate it.

After writing about carbon fiber last week, mycelium felt like the opposite as one is made in a factory and incredibly strong, while the other is grown and fairly weak. What surprised me most was how the same material used in bricks and packaging is also used as a meat alternative, which changed the way I think about food. I think mycelium’s biggest potential is in packaging because it could replace Styrofoam, which takes hundreds of years to break down.

A close-up of white mycelium threads. Image: Angela van Oeffelen / iStock