The world is cluttered with man made materials,
and many will take centuries to break down.
But an alternative could be lying just beneath our feet.
Fungi play a vital role in forest ecosystems,
where they help decompose organic matter in the soil.
But their root structure, mycelium, is proving useful elsewhere too,
making compostable products.
People Fixing the World. Building with Fungi.
Number one: Packaging.
What we're doing essentially is recreating
what happens in nature.
Mycelium recycles debris
on the forest floor.
We do that same process,
but within a bespoke tray
or mould
to grow packaging
to protect products in transit.
The moulds are filled with agricultural waste
which has been treated with mycelium.
As the fungus feeds on the waste, it grows to fill the mould.
After around four days most of the growth has happened.
And a few days later, after being sterilised in a kiln, it's ready.
The company wants to replace polystyrene packaging.
and says its mycelium alternative is just as strong.
The difference is it's a
home-compostable material.
So once you've finished
with the product or
the end user gets it home,
you simply break it down
into small pieces
and then it will go back to the
earth within 35 to 40 days.
But not everyone is convinced that the idea can work at scale.
Ikea ended a trial with the company's US partner, Ecovative,
saying it wasn't possible to scale up to make it viable at industry level.
Number two: Coffins.
When we die, chemicals from embalming fluid and coffins
can pollute the soil where we're laid to rest.
The World Health Organization says that ideally,
bodies and coffins should decompose as fast as possible.
Bob Hendrikx started making coffins out of mycelium
after learning about its ability to recycle dead material.
I thought to myself,
if it can turn death into life
why are we not using it?
It just makes a lot of sense to
be buried in a mycelium coffin.
It's actually sort of
an organism party on your body
that allows new life to flourish
instead of waiting with your
body for 10 to 20 years
and polluting the soil.
It normally takes over a decade for a body to fully decompose
but Bob says his coffins can cut this time down to just three years.
At €1,495 (£1,285) each, for many people they're unaffordable,
but Bob wants to see living materials in other products soon.
My shirt is going to
grow with me,
we're going to live
in [living] houses,
street lighting is going to be
lit up by algae, for example.
I have this vision
of this whole new world
and chapter one
is the living coffin.
Number Three. Insulation.
We've spent about 40 years
in the construction industry
trying our hardest to get rid
of mould in buildings
and trying to convince
contractors to put
fungus in a building
is quite a difficult one to get
their heads around.
But this mycelium insulation won't start sprouting mushrooms.
And the company behind it says it's ideal for keeping heat in.
There are a number of things
about mycelium
that make it really unique
and make it incredibly suitable
for insulation.
One of those is the incredible
highways of mycelium hyphae
which are the little hairs
or roots of the mycelium,
and what that does is it traps
a lot of air bubbles
so it makes it really good
for insulating properties.
Mycelium's properties also make the panels fire and water resistant.
The company says that making the panels sequesters carbon,
so they could be a greener alternative to other insulation.
However, production only began recently,
so it remains to be seen how many architects and builders
will want to make the switch from more traditional insulation.