US EditionMushroom material takes on plastic packaging at Belgian start-up
Permafungi offers a biodegradable alternative to plastic packaging as EU packaging waste per person hits nearly 190 kg, aiming to scale production and reindustrialize Brussels.
- This month, Permafungi opened a production site in Brussels, Belgium, scaling up Europe's first factory for mushroom-based biodegradable packaging producing milky-white soap wrappers.
- The start-up grows mycelium in moulds using local feedstocks, including sawdust and recycled coffee grounds, with mushrooms sourced from the Sonian forest on Brussels' southern rim.
- Jacquet highlighted production features by saying `No more petrochemicals to heat and press` as Permafungi uses two million euros in EU funding and one million euros from Apres‑Demain investment.
- Investors warn that Permafungi faces scale-up and cost challenges, needing profitability within two to five years while currently serving a niche market with high-end soap makers and early collaborators.
- Ahead of EU policy, the European Union is expected to unveil a bioeconomy strategy later this month amid EU packaging waste figures showing nearly 190 kilograms in 2021, projected to rise to 209 kg by 2030.
32 Articles
32 Articles
In Brussels, a company manufactures fully biodegradable packaging... from mushrooms. The principle: to grow mycelium, the vegetative organ of the fungus, on straw or recycled sawdust. In about ten days, the material becomes compact, light and, above all, compostable in less than a month. ...
What innovative ways exist to reduce the use of plastics in food packaging? A number of research projects, funded by the
On a new sparkling production line in Brussels, Julien Jacquet presents a row of packages of milky white soap bread, produced by what is presented as the first European mushroom packaging plant. Jacquet's start-up, Permafungi, presents its fully biodegradable "myco-material" as a sustainable alternative to [...]
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