Mycelium: using mushrooms for the future packaging materials in Europe

The usage of plastics in all aspects of human activity has resulted in substantial pollution since it takes a long time to decompose plastics into smaller hazardous particles. Researchers have identified a few more sustainable substitutes, including mycelium materials, which show tremendous potential. Likewise, mycelium composites are a novel class of low-cost, ecologically friendly materials that are growing rapidly in development and production in the EU and the US for the packaging industry. Natural fungal growth is used as a low energy bio-fabrication approach in these materials to upcycle plentiful agricultural by-products and forestry wastes into more sustainable alternatives. The purpose of this study was to investigate the legal and technical requirements, global sustainable application, and manufacturing potential, as well as the problems associated with applying mycelium foam composites in the building and packaging sectors. The important properties of mycelium materials were determined in each economic area by experimental results, professional insight, and thorough literature research. Fungal production has been adopted in the building and packaging sectors, with some demonstrated applications in medical, food, textile, and cosmetics. These materials, in addition to their low cost, ease of production, and environmental sustainability, imply that they will play an important part in the future of green packaging. Market obstacles include the continued growth in demand for mycelial and recycled production, a lack of legislation, decentralized knowledge, and the development of production optimization methods. Following these findings, the conclusion was reached that more transdisciplinary studies must be conducted to optimise mycelial material production and future discovery