Europe’s First Mushroom Packaging Factory Is Replacing Styrofoam With Fungus
Europe’s First Mushroom Packaging Factory Is Replacing Styrofoam With FungusA UK company is literally growing shipping packaging out of mushroom roots and hemp — and it composts in your garden in 45 days
Magical Mushroom Company is producing 200,000 units of mycelium packaging per week across factories in Nottingham and Sofia — and the $93M global mushroom packaging market is projected to hit $228M by 2035.
That protective foam block keeping your TV safe during shipping? It’s polystyrene. It’ll sit in a landfill for 500 years. This company grows the exact same thing from fungus roots in 6 days. Then you throw it in your garden and it’s dirt in a month and a half.
🧩 Dumb Mode Dictionary
| Term | Translation |
|---|---|
| Mycelium | The root network of mushrooms — imagine white threads spreading underground like nature’s wifi |
| EPS (Expanded Polystyrene) | Styrofoam. The squeaky white stuff that breaks into a million pieces and never goes away |
| Substrate | The food the mushroom roots eat while growing — in this case, chopped-up hemp stalks |
| Chitin | A natural polymer in fungus cell walls that makes the packaging water-resistant (lobster shells have it too) |
| Biodigestable | Breaks down without oxygen — so it works in your council food waste bin, not just your compost heap |
| CAGR | Compound Annual Growth Rate — fancy way of saying “how fast this market is getting bigger each year” |
📖 Wait, How Do You Grow a Box?
OKAY SO this is the part that’s absolutely wild to me (and I’ve been reading about it all day).
Magical Mushroom Company, based in Esher, UK, takes hemp woody cores — basically agricultural waste nobody wants — and mixes them with live mycelium. They pack this mixture into a mold shaped like whatever packaging they need. Then they put it in a dark room at room temperature.
And they just… leave it there. For 6 days.
The mycelium threads grow through the hemp, binding everything together into a solid block. Chitin — the same stuff in crab shells — forms naturally in the fungal cell walls, making the whole thing water-resistant. After 6 days they kiln-dry it to kill the fungus (so it stops growing), and boom. You have packaging that’s as protective as styrofoam.
No petroleum. No factory chemicals. The mushroom does the work.
📊 The Numbers That Matter
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Weekly production | 200,000+ packaging units |
| Factories | 2 (Nottingham, UK + Sofia, Bulgaria) |
| Total funding raised | $9.81M across 5 rounds |
| 2024 projected revenue | £6 million |
| Growth time per unit | ~6 days from mix to finished product |
| Composting time | 45 days in garden soil |
| Global market size (2025) | ~$93M |
| Market projection (2035) | ~$228M (9.4% CAGR) |
| Hemp CO₂ capture | 15 tonnes per hectare annually |
| EPS lifespan in landfill | 500+ years |
🗣️ What the Hacker News Crowd Is Saying
The comments section got spicy. Here’s the rundown:
The Skeptics: One heavily-upvoted comment pointed to Ecovative, a US competitor that’s been at this for nearly two decades. The core complaint? “It takes around 7 days for each piece of packaging to grow” and “the finished part is heavy and not compressible so it adds significant cost.” Fair point — this stuff is heavier than styrofoam and you can’t squish it flat for storage.
The “First in Europe” Debate: Multiple commenters called out competitors already operating on the continent — Grown.bio (Netherlands), PermaFungi (Brussels), RongoDesign (Romania), and Biomyc (Bulgaria). So “Europe’s first industrial-scale” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that tagline.
The Name Thing: Several people admitted they clicked the link because they thought “Magical Mushroom Company” was about those mushrooms. One former e-commerce operator straight-up admitted this kind of suggestive naming is deliberate for traffic. (I mean… it worked on me too.)
The Reality Check: Dell and IKEA have been sourcing mycelium packaging from Ecovative since around 2014. This tech isn’t new. But the “can we actually scale it in Europe” part? That’s the bet MMC is making.
🔍 Who's Already Using This Stuff?
Major clients include:
- BA Kitchens — kitchen appliance packaging
- Renais Gin — premium spirits (luxury packaging = higher margins)
- ICAX Heat Pumps — heavy industrial equipment protection
- Tom Dixon — high-end furniture and lighting
- Raymarine — marine electronics
- Flextronics — contract electronics manufacturing
The pattern here is interesting: mostly premium brands where “we use sustainable packaging” is a selling point. The luxury segment pays more, and the sustainability story adds marketing value that offsets the 15-20% price premium over EPS.
IKEA and Dell are sourcing mycelium packaging globally. Adidas has experimented with it. As plastic taxes bite harder (especially in the EU), the cost gap is closing fast.
⚡ The Competitive Landscape
MMC isn’t alone. There are 16 mycelium packaging startups globally:
| Company | Location | Notable |
|---|---|---|
| Ecovative Design | New York, USA | The OG — been at it since 2007, $171M+ total market funding |
| Grown.bio | Netherlands | European pioneer, luxury segment focus |
| Mushroom Material | Auckland/Singapore | Raised $8.5M seed round |
| Roha Biotech | Chennai, India | IIT Madras incubated |
| S.Lab | — | Built robots that mold mycelium packaging |
| Biomyc | Bulgaria | Regional competitor |
The top 5 players control 45%+ of total market share. Europe accounts for 40% of global market growth. And 64% of consumers say they’ll pay more for sustainable packaging.
But here’s the challenge nobody talks about: only 30% of manufacturers can currently produce 1,000+ units daily. Scaling fungus-growing is harder than it sounds.
Cool. So Mushrooms Are Eating Styrofoam’s Lunch. Now What the Hell Do We Do? (•̀ᴗ•́)و
💰 1. Become a Regional Mycelium Packaging Supplier
This business model is inherently regional — you use local agricultural waste as your substrate. Hemp husks in the UK, corn stalks in the Midwest, rice hulls in Southeast Asia. Find the waste stream nobody wants and turn it into protective packaging for local manufacturers.
You can license Ecovative’s MycoComposite technology or develop your own formula with a mycologist. A small facility (two shipping containers’ worth of space) can get you started.
Example: James Ferrier in Australia contacted Ecovative, licensed their tech, found local mycologists, and launched BioFab with a facility the size of two 20-foot containers. He’s now scaling to a full factory producing packaging for regional electronics manufacturers.
Timeline: 3-6 months to license + develop formula, 6-12 months to first commercial orders. Initial facility cost: $50K-150K depending on scale.
💰 2. Sustainable Packaging Consulting for E-Commerce Brands
With EU plastic taxes increasing and over 100 US cities restricting single-use plastics, DTC brands are panicking about their packaging footprint. Position yourself as the person who audits their packaging supply chain and switches them to mycelium, molded fiber, or other alternatives.
Charge per audit + implementation. Most brands have zero clue what’s available beyond cardboard.
Example: Jan Berbee in the Netherlands started as a packaging consultant helping companies reduce tape and plastic use. After discovering mycelium packaging through a mushroom farmer, he co-founded Grown.bio and now supplies luxury brands like champagne and perfume houses across Europe.
💰 3. Start a Mushroom Growing Kit Side Business
While industrial mycelium packaging requires scale, the home/maker market is booming. Sell DIY mycelium material kits that let small businesses, artists, and makers grow their own custom packaging or decorative objects. Think Etsy meets science experiment.
The materials cost almost nothing — substrate + spawn bags. The margin is in the education and convenience.
Example: A maker in Berlin started selling €35 “grow your own packaging” kits on Etsy targeting small jewelry and ceramics sellers who wanted plastic-free shipping inserts. She moved 400 kits in 6 months through Instagram reels showing the growing process — the timelapse videos basically market themselves.
💰 4. Content Creation Around Sustainable Materials
The mushroom packaging space is visually insane. Timelapse videos of mycelium growing through substrate get millions of views. There’s a massive content gap — almost nobody is making accessible, entertaining content about biomaterials.
Start a YouTube channel, TikTok, or newsletter covering the intersection of sustainability and business. Monetize through sponsorships from eco-brands, affiliate links to sustainable products, and eventually consulting.
Example: A materials science grad student in Lagos started posting 60-second TikToks explaining weird sustainable materials (mycelium leather, seaweed packaging, bacterial cellulose). Hit 180K followers in 8 months. Now charges $1,500 per sponsored post from green-tech startups trying to reach Gen Z.
💰 5. White-Label Sustainable Packaging for Local Businesses
Buy mycelium packaging wholesale from producers like Grown.bio or MMC, then resell to local restaurants, wineries, breweries, and gift shops who want sustainable packaging but don’t have the volume to order direct from manufacturers.
You’re basically a distributor — but one who understands the local market and can offer custom branding and smaller quantities.
Example: A logistics coordinator in Porto, Portugal started buying biodegradable packaging in bulk from European suppliers and reselling to 30+ local wine producers who needed sustainable shipping inserts for DTC orders. She charges a 40% markup and handles the custom sizing. Pulling €4K/month after 5 months.
🛠️ Follow-Up Actions
| Step | Action | Tool/Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Research your region’s agricultural waste streams | Local farming associations, university ag departments |
| 2 | Contact Ecovative about licensing MycoComposite | mushroompackaging.com |
| 3 | Browse existing mycelium packaging suppliers | Grown.bio, Magical Mushroom Co. |
| 4 | Study EU/local plastic packaging regulations | EUR-Lex, local environmental agency websites |
| 5 | Join the mycelium materials community | r/mycology, r/SideProject, Mycelium Inspired directory |
| 6 | Watch the Ecovative founder’s talks on YouTube | Search “Eben Bayer mycelium” for process breakdowns |
Quick Hits
| Want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Understand how mycelium packaging works |
Watch Ecovative’s factory tours on YouTube — 6-day growth process from waste to box |
 Start selling sustainable packaging locally |
Buy wholesale from Grown.bio, resell to local DTC brands at 30-40% markup |
 Experiment with growing your own |
Grab oyster mushroom spawn + hemp hurd, follow r/mycology guides |
 Build a content brand in this space |
Timelapse mycelium growth videos = guaranteed engagement on TikTok/Reels |
 Track the market opportunity |
Mycelium packaging market: $93M now → $228M by 2035 at 9.4% CAGR |
Styrofoam lasted 500 years in the ground. Its replacement grows in 6 days and disappears in 45. The fungi don’t care about your supply chain — they just eat.
!