With all the frightening things that are happening in the world right now, we thought we would focus on something truly magical: Namely, fungi. Last summer, we wrote about the use of psilocybin to treat depression in The Growth of the Psychedelic Industry. While an effective treatment for something that causes so much pain to so many is awfully exciting, it turns out that mushrooms are good for a whole lot more. Aside from aiding mental health, those tasty little pizza toppers are being used to create environmentally safe packaging and construction products, consumer goods, and even cleaning up one of the biggest messes humans have ever made.

Now, we aren’t saying that we’ll be getting a shipment of MeUndies inside a portobello mushroom, but rather what can be done with mycelium, which is the root structure of mushrooms. It consists of a network of branching, interconnected fine threads which can be grown into any shape and has no size limit. The Armillaria ostoyae mycelial network in Oregon occupies around 2,400 acres or roughly 1,665 football fields and is the world’s largest known organism.

The amazing thing is that once the mycelium is colonized into a form, it is exceptionally durable, insulating, and even flame-resistant, making it an ideal replacement for one of the bigger environmental criminals, Styrofoam. Even more mind-blowing is that mushrooms also serve as nature’s recycling system with mycelium capable of growing extremely fast, making it functional for industrial applications, and once used, it is a bonus for the area in which it is composted.

All this work by innocuous little fungi adds up to a global mushroom market that grew to $58.8 billion in 2021 and, according to ResearchandMarkets.com, is expected to reach $86.5 billion by 2027, which translates into a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 6.5% during 2022-2027.

Packaging and Construction

The pandemic saw a rapid increase in online shopping, which also meant a spike in demand for cardboard boxes. The global cardboard box market reached $190 billion in 2020 and is expected to experience compound annual growth of 5.7% through 2027. Leading manufacturers include the privately-held TetraPak, International Paper Co (IP), and WestRock (WRK). While it is true that cardboard boxes are recyclable, as are many of the protective air-filled plastic bags used to shield items during shipping, we are seeing a growing interest in more biodegradable packaging that can simply be composted at home, eliminating the need to send it to a recycling facility.

One of the market leaders in mycelium pack-tech is Ecovate Design, based in New York, which closed a $60 million round of funding last year. One of the company’s products is Mushroom® Packaging, which is made with just hemp hurd, a byproduct of the fiber hemp industry, and mycelium to form a solid composite form that is light, strong, fire, and water-resistant. The company reports that its packaging can be grown in just seven days and will compost in 45 days when added to the soil.

This exceptionally environmentally-friendly packaging is used by companies like Lush, an artificial