And a big provider of the material for this is a New York based company called Eco Votive.

It's a bio materials organization that's received millions of dollars in grant money from the U.

S.

Government.

In addition to private funds from private investors, it's worked on everything from building materials to packaging, all based on using part of the mushroom.

When it comes to shipping materials, it's not always the perfect substitute for Styrofoam or other plastics echo votives.

Original mycelium foam could be more expensive to use than traditional materials for lightweight packages, But its makers say it is better for the environment, and it's changing the way people think about mushrooms.

Since the 19 fifties, humans have produced over nine billion tons of plastic, most of that is ending up in landfills and could take centuries to decompose.

A miracle material found in nature could be the key to reducing plastic waste.

It's called mycelium, and it comes from mushrooms.

Mycelium is like the root structure of a mushroom.

You're used to seeing a mushroom above ground.

Mycelium is like the roots beneath it, but no one had ever tried to use them to make materials.

Eben Bayer is the CEO of Echo of a Tive, a company that has developed a way to grow mycelium into specific shapes and sizes.

They start by taking organic plant waste and mixing it with mycelium cells, which act as a sort of natural glue.

The mycelium grows through and around those particles, and it binds them together and you've got a grown product.

Excavators.

Mycelium products provide a natural alternative to packaging materials made out of plastic and styrofoam.

But at the end of its useful life, you can actually break it up and you could put in your own garden.

So it's It's a nutrient, not a pollutant.

Excavated wants to take my psyllium to the next level.

Our current technical focus is developing the next generation of Sicilian materials from cell scaffolding, toe leather like materials to even meet replacements, a k a.

Mycelium bacon, which is still in its testing phases.

The company thinks by psyllium could also play a major role in construction and even in regenerative medicine.