A local company is trying to revolutionize packing material.It's run by a pair of RPI graduates who say their product comes from the environment and can help save it as well.
You know when you get a box shipped to you it's got styrofoam peanuts or some other styrofoam to hold the product in place?
Well, at a Green Island factory, they're working to change that.
The company is making a whole new generation of packing material that can be regenerated.
It's made of agricultural by-products like seed husks and a fungus which comes from mushroom roots.
Eben Bayer says, “I'd been inspired by actually seeing this organism growing in nature. It works in our process like a glue and in nature it actually acts as a glue holding the forest floor together.”
Eben Bayer is the CEO of Ecovative Design, begun with fellow 2007 RPI grad Gavin McIntyre based on a concept developed in a class there.
“Our vision is to become a leader in sustainable materials,” said Bayer.
That vision led Eben to quit his post-college job on the first day and go into business.
They worked off grants and the winnings of a European green challenge - and now they're making money selling their material called Ecocradle to customers like ready-to-assemble furniture maker Steelcase.
When you're done with it, it can be composted or will biodegrade on its own.
Eben says it costs the same as traditional packing material, without the toxic byproducts and clogged landfills.
Bayer says, “These are sort of like nature's polymers, nature's equivalent to plastics. You can almost think of them it like a soft wood. It's durable. You can use it. It gives you the same performance. When you're done using it though, it fits right into nature's recycling system.”
Eben Bayer says they're looking into other applications for the product including in the automotive industry and for home insulation, so from here, the sky's the limit, but the product will keep the skies cleaner.
Adding to the company's green effort - the Green Island plant is 100% hydro-powered.
