Mushrooms Provide Eco-Friendly Packing Material

Americans may not think much about what goes into the plastic packaging material they take for granted in everyday products. Most modern packaging materials are made from polystyrene and other synthetics that are not only made from petroleum, but also take a lot of energy to make.

But Ecovative Designs does. Ecovative is working to change that by developing a line of environmentally friendly packaging materials made from mushrooms and agricultural byproducts. Founded by a pair of engineers, the company is working to make not only a replacement for styrofoam “peanuts” but a variety of other materials from home insulation to kitchen counters.

Correspondent Josh Zepps takes us into the woods to see why mushrooms could be nature's perfect packing, and to Ecovative's labs to see how a few cottonseed husks and some mushroom cells can grow into something useful and beneficial for the environment.