Everyday thermocol and bubble wraps, in which your favourite crockery or fragile items come packaged in, are non-bio-degradable, and remain in the environment – indestructible – for years, clogging drains and ocean.
Finding an eco-friendly alternative to such materials, two girl students from Hyderabad have made packages from mushrooms. Yes, mushrooms!
Vadla Pranavi and Anupama Gambo from St Ann’s College in Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad, have come up with ‘Porcini Parcels’ packaging materials made from mushroom Mycelia and agri waste. The proposal was chosen as part of Youth for Social Impact programme, a collaborative effort by the Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC), Department of Higher Education, Telangana, UNICEF India, Inqui-Lab Foundation, Y-Hub, and YuWaah.
In an interview to News18, Pranavi said: “Our mycelium bricks are fully biodegradable within 40-50 days. Mycelium is a by-product of mushroom cultivation. Our product does not require water, light or chemicals to grow. After mixing mycelia and the agricultural waste, we heat it to a temperature of over 200 degrees Celsius. This takes away all moisture and kills all mycelia, making it a stable product.”
The product is being developed for large-scale production in WeHub, India’s first state-led incubator for women entrepreneurs. There is no carbon emission in the manufacturing of Porcini Parcels.
Talking about how she and Pranavi developed their prototype, Anupama said: “We made mycelium bricks 25*12 cm long and kept 15 kg weighed calorimeter on them. They could withstand the weight. We packed a fragile tea cup and dropped it from a height of six feet. The cup was found intact after reaching the ground.”
The bricks also bring down temperature by 2-6 degrees. Therefore, they can also be used as tiles in houses.
Another important feature of such packaging is its low cost. One mycelium bed costs Rs 5. They are made from the waste of mushroom cultivation, thus enabling upcycling. Prototypes of Ganesh idol, diyas, brick, pen stand and flower vase were made to showcase the mycelium products and their strength. Through a cost analysis, it was found that the manufacturer can achieve a profit of 400% on these products.
According to the young innovators, eco-friendly Porcini Parcels can reduce the usage of plastic in everyday life by 50%. Porcini Parcels can replace the existing plastic such as thermocol, styrofoam and bubble wraps, which will reduce the pollution load in the world.
