How Does Mycelium Affect The Environment

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Mycelium Creating Plastic Substitutes
About 300 million tons of plastic is produced globally each year . Manufacturing plastic requires a huge amount of energy and because of their poor disposal rate have a disastrous effect on our environment proving to be one of the most harmful and toxic products to come out of the 21st century industrial boom. As an example of the harmful effects plastic has on our environment, consider that according to a European report, nearly 4.7 million tons of plastic is dumped into the ocean annually . And while it’s there it breaks down into smaller and smaller fragments as the years go on. The tinier the pieces, the more easily they are swallowed by marine life. (One study found that fish in the North Pacific ingest as much as
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Plastic that has accumulated over half a century is out there now. With this in mind many eco friendly companies have been developing ways to reduce the use of plastic.
Eban Bayer and Gavin McIntyre founded Ecovative back in 2007 with their core mission being to “envision, develop, produce, and market Earth friendly materials, which, unlike conventional synthetics, can have a positive impact on our planet’s ecosystem.” . They plan on doing this through the research and development of materials using fungal mycelium. Mycelium is a root like filament that mushrooms and other fungus spread into the soil to gather nutrients, and is a crucial part of natures recycling system. In an article titled Eco-Friendly Companies Introduce Nature’s Packing Peanuts written by Monica Kanojia of the National Science Foundation, Bayer and McIntyre also suggest that it can provide