Cradle to cradle materials turn me on. This past Wednesday, Eben Bayer, of Ecovative Design, came to discuss how his innovative materials are attempting to make Styrofoam extinct. Inspired by the way roots and binding capabilities of mycelium, Eben and his RPI classmate Gavin McIntyre, developed a process to use mushrooms to bind agricultural waste. The outcome was a material that was similar to Styrofoam. Then again, it was better. The material not only uses a byproduct of local (aiming for within 100 miles) agriculture production (diverts waste), uses one tenth to one fifth of the energy used to produce Styrofoam, is completely oil independent, but is completely biodegradable and compostable. It also happens to be fire resistant, vapor retardant and mold resistant. Eben also mentioned that they are working to make the price even with that of traditional Styrofoam. I guess the only downfall, apparently, is that it is flavorless.
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