MycoCycle

If you’ve gone your whole life thinking mushrooms were a palatable yet relatively insignificant vegetable you could find in the produce aisle, we have a pleasant surprise for you: mushrooms hold the potential to break down and absorb some of the most toxic of human-created waste through mycoremediation!

From the article “Mycromediation: 8 Ways Mushrooms Can Mitigate Pollution”

“The process of natural decomposition works through enzymatic reactions. These enzymes include peroxidases, liginases, cellulases, pectinases, xylanases, and oxidases, all of which are masters at breaking things down (enzymes ending in “-ase” typically mean to “break down.” i.e., ‘lipases’ break down lipids, etc.).

Such enzymes are inherent byproducts of fungi and have massive implications for cleaning up the contamination we have left behind. As mycelium spreads, it secretes these enzymes, which can break down pollution. Fungi are the forest’s Day 1 recyclers, breaking down organic plant and wood material.”

What MycoCycle is doing is taking what has been happening in nature and applying it to C&D waste.

Their material is called MycoFILL – G. and they are working with large carpet, epoxy, and drywall manufacturers to put this material back into their product(s) as a performance-enhancing filler. On the low end, this could replace something like calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), or on the higher end, it could replace something like Alumina trihydrate, which is used in building materials to improve fire resistance (like a fire-stop epoxy). Mycelium has great fire resistance properties, so this is something we are very excited about.