Chapter 1: What is the environmental impact of polystyrene?
An organic alternative to styrofoam packaging. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino. Polystyrene is the chemical compound that makes up Styrofoam, used for packaging and insulation. But it's not the most environmentally friendly. By one estimate, 40 million tons of polystyrene were produced globally in 2024, leaving millions of tons of plastic waste.
The search for an Earth-friendly alternative has led researchers to dig deep and come up with an unlikely solution. Fungus. The BBC's Anna Holligan has this story.
We're taking you on a little mushroom-picking expedition in the woods just outside a university lab that's turning dead trees and fungus into insulation that could one day blow plastic foam, also known as polystyrene, right off the shelves.
Chapter 2: How are mushrooms being used as an alternative to styrofoam?
Mushrooms have been used for hundreds and thousands of years in the Arctic. That's Professor Filip Amtislavski from the University of Alaska. Here is one. It has a very fancy Latin name, Fomus fermentarius. It is very common across the Arctic world and subarctic. If you knock on it, the sound is very similar to what we got from styrofoam.
So how on earth do you turn mushrooms or mycelium, the root-like structure of a fungus, into insulation? Alexandra Ravello is on a mission to stop plastics choking our oceans. What we do in the lab is mix wood fiber, like pulp and cardboard, and you use a foaming apparatus. Then that foam can get inoculated with mushroom, and then you'll put it in an incubator in a pan.
Chapter 3: What is the process of creating insulation from mycelium?
And then you'll let it grow in that incubator for about five days. And you'll have a solid board that can be used as insulation material. We're not using any chemicals or any bounding material. It's the mushroom itself that's creating this and turning it into a board instead of just a mush. That's so cool. We'll be right back. You're listening to Marketplace Tech. I'm Megan McCarty Carino.
We're back with the BBC's Anna Holligan. So it's designed to replace the polystyrene containers that keep the fish chilled while they're transported around the world.
Chapter 4: How does mycelium insulation compare to traditional materials?
And bonus, if this mushroom insulation ends up in our oceans, sea creatures won't choke on it. In fact, apparently, they can actually eat it. Is this one of the boxes we have here on the table? Yeah. This is amazing. So it's... It feels almost like a very soft Emily board. It's a really unusual material. It feels really solid. It's very light.
Chapter 5: What are the benefits of using mushroom insulation in the fishing industry?
Sport caught fish like salmon, halibut. Down at Kodiak Harbour, Chris Zanito from Wild Source is putting this revolutionary mycelium cooler to the ultimate test. Alaska's unforgiving fishing industry. The shipping is very expensive on a box. Just a pound difference is real dollars.
So the benefit of styrofoam is that it's lightweight and durable, but the disadvantage is that... It's not biodegradable. Exactly. That's right. There's a real need for an alternative. Mycelium is already outperforming some conventional foams in fire resistance, sustainability and durability.
Chapter 6: What are the future implications of mycelium as a sustainable material?
That was the BBC's Anna Holligan. I'm Megan McCarty Carino, and that's Marketplace Tech. This is APM.