Why mention single-use plastics?

Most mushroom farming these days uses a surprising amount of single-use plastics that end up in landfills. Mushrooms are grown in disposable plastic grow bags, disposable plastic petri dishes and syringes are often used. Single-use needles with plastic locking pieces are used for collecting and using mushroom cultures.

With an aim of zero-waste mushroom production Sustainable Spore strives to eliminate as many of these disposables as possible. Reusable growing containers are used instead of plastic bags wherever possible, glass petri dishes are used for cultures, reusable syringes and reusable/autoclavable veterinary needles are used for mushroom culture collection and inoculation.

Any single-use plastics used are oxo-biodegradable, ensuring that even under conditions that don’t favor biodegradability they will break down completely.

Banner image taken by Wendell Smith, Creative Commons License 2.0