Mushroom Futures- Growing AirMycelium™: Ecovative at 2024 North American Mushroom Conference

Summary

Gavin McIntyre, co-founder and CCO of Ecovative, discusses the company's journey in developing mycelium-based materials as sustainable alternatives to plastics and leather. He highlights Ecovative's innovative use of mycelium's enzymatic diversity to create biodegradable, compostable products like packaging and textiles. McIntyre also showcases their 'My Bacon' - a mycelium-based meat alternative with a focus on scalability, leveraging existing mushroom farming infrastructure.

Takeaways

• 📚 Gavin McIntyre, co-founder and chief commercial officer at Ecovative, shared insights into the company's background, development, and mission to create sustainable materials and proteins.
• 🌱 Ecovative's journey began with the observation that the planet needs better materials and proteins, targeting the over 600 billion Global Plastics industry and the challenges of industrial agriculture.
• 🍄 The company focuses on using mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms, for its enzymatic diversity and ability to utilize various biomass resources, creating new materials and food products.
• 🔬 Mycelium offers unique attributes compared to single-cell microbes and complex life forms, enabling it to grow exponentially and create complex structures without extensive processing.
• 🏭 Ecovative has developed technologies like Micco composites for packaging and Elastomer Foams for textiles, leveraging mycelium's properties to create sustainable alternatives to conventional materials.
• 🌳 Mycelium is inherently circular, aligning with natural systems, and can be fully composted, offering a sustainable lifecycle from production to end of life.
• 🌐 Ecovative's success in creating mycelium-based products like 'my bacon' has been achieved through partnerships with existing farms, integrating into their infrastructure and processes.
• 🛠️ The company has developed the 'Mycelium Foundry', a unique toolkit for rapid development of new strains, raw materials, and growth recipes to innovate material classifications.
• 📈 Ecovative's approach to scaling involves a conscientious method of moving from lab bench to farm scale, supported by over 80 patent families and a decade of product development.
• 🌐 The mycelium landscape is burgeoning, with Ecovative represented across various categories and verticals, from food to material science, showcasing the technology's broad applicability.
• 🚀 Looking forward, Ecovative continues to innovate and scale mycelium-based products, aiming to displace plastics and create new categories of materials and food products for a sustainable future.

Q & A

Who is Gavin McIntyre and what is his role at Ecovative?

Gavin McIntyre is one of the co-founders of Ecovative, a mycelium technology company, and he serves as the Chief Commercial Officer.

What is the primary focus of Ecovative's technology and why?

Ecovative primarily focuses on using mycelium technology to create sustainable alternatives to plastics and animal-based proteins, aiming to address environmental concerns and resource scarcity.

What are the environmental issues associated with traditional plastics and animal agriculture that Ecovative aims to address?

Traditional plastics are based on finite resources, are not biodegradable, and can persist in the environment for years. Animal agriculture contributes to deforestation, land and water consumption, and is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Why did Ecovative choose to use mycelium as the basis for their products?

Mycelium was chosen for its enzymatic diversity and ability to utilize a wide range of biomass resources, aligning with natural systems and offering a sustainable and scalable solution.

What is the significance of mycelium's enzymatic diversity in product development?

Mycelium's enzymatic diversity allows it to transform various non-food grade biomass resources into high-value products, such as alternative proteins and materials, without competing with food supply chains.

What are the unique attributes of mycelium that make it suitable for industrial scale processes?

Mycelium grows exponentially, can create complex macroscopic structures, and responds to its environment, allowing for the manipulation of its growth to produce new categories of materials and food products.

What was the first product Ecovative introduced using mycelium technology?

The first product introduced by Ecovative was mushroom packaging, which uses mycelium as a natural adhesive to bind particles together for protective packaging.

How does Ecovative's mycelium-based packaging differ from conventional packaging materials?

Ecovative's mycelium-based packaging is biodegradable and compostable, breaking down quickly in nature's existing systems without leaving harmful residues, unlike conventional plastics.

What is the concept behind Ecovative's 'mycelium foundry' and its role in product development?

The 'mycelium foundry' is a unique toolkit that enables rapid development of new strains, raw materials, and growth recipes to create new materials and products, streamlining the process from lab to commercial scale.

How does Ecovative ensure the scalability and quality of its mycelium-based products?

Ecovative uses a combination of its mycelium foundry for high-throughput research, control over raw materials and strains, and integration into existing mushroom farm infrastructure to ensure scalable, high-quality production.

What is the significance of the partnership between Ecovative and white Crest mushroom farms?

The partnership allows Ecovative to leverage existing mushroom farming infrastructure for the cultivation of its mycelium-based products, demonstrating the adaptability and viability of scaling up production.

What are the key product categories that Ecovative currently serves with its mycelium technology?

Ecovative serves several product categories including packaging, leather-like textiles, and food products such as my bacon, which is a plant-based meat alternative.

What is the environmental impact of Ecovative's mycelium-based products compared to conventional plastics and animal-derived materials?

Ecovative's products have a lower environmental impact as they are biodegradable, compostable, and do not rely on finite resources or contribute to deforestation and water scarcity issues associated with conventional plastics and animal agriculture.

How does Ecovative's mycelium technology contribute to the circular economy?

The mycelium technology contributes to the circular economy by transforming waste biomass into valuable products and ensuring these products are biodegradable and compostable, fitting within nature's existing systems.

What are the challenges Ecovative faced in scaling up its mycelium-based products and how did they overcome them?

Challenges included developing a scalable production process and ensuring product quality. Ecovative overcame these by investing in the mycelium foundry for high-throughput research, controlling raw materials and strains, and integrating into existing farming infrastructure.

What is the future outlook for Ecovative's mycelium technology in terms of product development and market expansion?

Ecovative is focused on further developing its mycelium-based products, such as forager materials for textiles and apparel, and expanding its market reach through partnerships and by leveraging institutional knowledge in industries like leather tanning.