Fungi Solutions introduces “Australia’s first” mushroom-based packaging from landfilled waste

24 Jan 2023 --- Fungi Solutions is turning mushrooms into compostable packaging for the Australian market. The start-up packaging company based in Melbourne aims to divert organic waste from landfills, marking it as the “first business” in Australia to convert fungi into packaging. 

The converting process combines fungi with organic waste to grow and create compostable packaging. After use, the packaging is home-compostable, allowing consumers to compost the products in their backyards. 

The innovation works in tandem with Australia’s national target to remove all single-use plastic packaging by 2025 and for all packaging to be recyclable, reusable or compostable.

Founders Camden Cooke and Amanda Morgan launched Fungi Solutions in 2020. The company reportedly displaced approximately 900 kilograms of waste from landfills and is said to have prevented thousands of metric tons of carbon pollution that would have been caused by manufacturing new packaging.

“Fungi Solutions was built out of a passion to create alternatives for waste management and to show that there is a natural non-harmful solution to the global waste issue,” says Cook. 

Fungi Solutions introduces growing packaging from mushrooms to Australia. Waste conversion
While mushroom packaging has been manufactured in other countries, Fungi Solutions is said to be the first company of its kind in Australia.

The bio-based packaging producer is working with local wine producer, Minimum Wines, using waste from the wine production to create bottle packaging. “The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation identified grape marc [solid waste left over from pressing grapes] as being one of the most abundant food loss streams in horticulture,” asserts Morgan. 

“They have about a 30% loss of their entire harvest as a waste product at the end of that process, representing a huge opportunity to convert that into a valuable product.”

The process begins with agricultural waste such as stems, seeds and cut-offs or commercial waste like textiles, cardboard paper and sawdust. The waste is broken down and combined with mycelium, the root network of fungi, to be placed in a mold. 

The mold is then placed in a warm dark room and grown to form in seven days. It’s then dried to create solid packaging. The process takes longer than an average PET plastic packaging solution but has the benefit of being more environmentally sustainable. 

“We can see a future where there will be myco-cycling facilities across Australia. The solution is simple: reduce and save waste from landfill, reuse and make new products, and recycle. With the help of mycelium, we can revolutionize waste,” explains Cooke. 

The company is also collecting organic waste from local councils for reuse and workingBio-based mushroom packaging can be composted in backyards.  on reusing cigarette butts. The founders hope their packaging will eventually be found on supermarket shelves. “We’re hoping to see the process scaled up to meet the volume of demand,” he adds. 

Compostables in the news
Compostable packaging has been on the rise in the packaging industry. Many companies in multiple sectors have invested in compostable and home-compostable solutions. Recently, researchers from Virginia Tech received a US$2.4 million grant from the US Department of Agriculture to create compostable bioplastics from food waste. 

However, marketing something as “home compostable” has a connotation of “greenwashing” behind it following a UK study. The report revealed that the majority of “home compostable plastics” in the UK are ineffective and mislabeled, causing them to end up in landfills. 

Each year in Australia, 6.3 million metric tons of packaging is put on the market, but only 54% is recycled, according to reports. Australians throw away around 1.9 million metric tons of packaging each year, as recorded by Sustainability Victoria. 

Reportedly, Australia has been missing its recycling targets, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and infrastructure failures surrounding ecological solutions, such as the recent REDcycle program.

Australia has faced the issue with plastic recycling techniques with REDcycle, a soft plastic collection scheme, shutting down after a stockpiling scandal. Following the program’s pause due to insufficient and dangerous recycling conditions, Coles, Woolworths and Aldi have drafted an urgent application to form the interim organization called the Soft Plastics Taskforce.

By Sabine Waldeck