Green Packaging-Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine

Green Packaging
Reduce, Reuse, Reimagine

Thanks to everyone’s favorite futuristic family, the Jetsons, we all grew up believing that by this time everything we wanted would be delivered to us at the touch of a button - meals, clothes, even people, would simply materialize into our living rooms. Unfortunately, we haven’t quite caught up to our cartoon compadres but luckily a few eco-friendly companies are taking the initiative to incorporate reusable materials into their latest package innovations. It might not be technological materialization but at least tech-savvy materials.

Plastic and Styrofoam are notoriously harmful to the environment but how can we stay hydrated without sacrificing our time washing and rewashing those darn reusable mugs? Simple. By utilizing recycled paper, agar, rice husks and even mushrooms, inventors are creating single-use containers that mirror the traditional toss-away cups – but with a biodegradable twist.

Ecovative is introducing a packaging material that is similar in structure to Styrofoam but is, in fact, made of fungal mycelium, or as they are more commonly (and less disgusting sounding) known - mushroom roots. Ecovative founder, Gavin McIntyre, describes the process for making these new eco-cups as filling a mold with “agricultural waste, like rice husks or cotton gin discards, add mycelia, and within two weeks the roots have grown to form a dense, lightweight network stronger than Styrofoam and ultimately compostable.”

As it stands the process currently takes 1/8th of the energy it takes to produce traditional foam cups. Never a company to settle, Ecovative is currently in testing a new, even more eco-friendly method that will utilize a sterilizing mixture of cinnamon-bark oil, thyme oil, oregano oil and lemongrass oil. So not only does it sound rather delicious, by the time this product hits the market in 2012, the process will use less that 1/40th of the energy of traditional Styrofoam but the science will allow people will be able to grow their own packing material from the comfort of their own home! According to McIntyre, "People could do it in their kitchens, with a process like this, you can mix a couple components together, and it's really like baking bread.”

Eco-friendly jello shots. Well, sort of. The Way We See the World sees plastic cups as a thing of the past and their edible gelatin cups, the future. Chelsea Briganti, one quarter of The Way We See the World team says of the agar material “It's slightly rubbery, very soft." The company themselves even coined the term “Jelloware," to describe their product. However, unlike their namesake, these cups will not get sticky. In fact, the mild flavor will actually complement whatever beverage you are drinking. While these glasses have yet to hit the market, once they do you will be left with the option of either eating the sugary faux glass or tossing it into the compost where it will decompose in less than a week. So logo, Solo cups!

Packing and shipping are notoriously difficult on the environment. Plastic wrap, fuel emissions and those dreaded Styrofoam peanuts are major earth offenders. So how is it, that in today’s tech-driven society, where internet shopping in a way of life, can we get what we need without sacrificing either our convenience or our environment? Why PaperNuts® of course!

The easy answer to this seemingly difficult problem lies within a product made from 100% recycled materials, which are both biodegradable and reusable. PaperNuts provide the same product protection as polystyrene or starch packing peanuts but without the pollution, particulates or pests. That’s right, pests. Rodents have been known to gnaw through boxes to get to those tasty, little starchy peanuts; meaning not only are the traditional packing peanuts bad for the environment, they are just plan unsanitary!

So while unlike George, Jane, Judy and Elroy, we don’t yet have a robo-maid or insta-turkey dinners we do have a lot of great up-and-coming inventions that are paving our way to a greener future. And who knows, if we remain dedicated to preserving the Earth, one day we might just work a full-time, 9 hour, work week, or, at the very least, get one of those cool space cars!

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