CNN News: 可分解材料

Since the 1950s’, humans have produced over 9 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.

自20世紀50年代以來，人類已經(jīng)生產了超過90億噸的塑料。這些垃圾中的大部分最終被填埋，可能需要幾個世紀才能分解。在自然界中發(fā)現(xiàn)的一種神奇的材料可能是減少塑料垃圾的關鍵，它被稱為菌絲，來自蘑菇。

EBEN BAYER, ECOVATIVE CEO: 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.

菌絲就像蘑菇的根結構。你習慣了在地面上看到蘑菇。菌絲就像它下面的根一樣，但是從來沒有人試圖用它們來制造材料。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eben Bayer is the CEO of Ecovative, 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.

Eben Bayer是Ecovative公司的首席執(zhí)行官，該公司已經(jīng)研發(fā)出一種將菌絲培育成特定形狀和大小的方法。他們首先將有機植物廢料與菌絲細胞混合，其中菌絲細胞作為一種天然粘合劑。

BAYER: The mycelium grows through and around those particles and it binds them together and you’ve got a grown product.

菌絲體在這些顆粒的周圍生長并將它們結合在一起就得到了一個成熟的產物。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ecovative mycelium products provide a natural alternative to packaging materials made out of plastic and Styrofoam.

生態(tài)菌絲體產品提供了一種天然的替代塑料和聚苯乙烯泡沫塑料包裝材料。

BAYER: But at the ends of its useful life, you can actually break it up and you can put it in your own garden. So it’s - - it’s a nutrient not a pollutant.

但在它的使用壽命結束時，實際上可以把它拆開，可以把它放在你自己的花園里。所以它是一種營養(yǎng)物質而不是污染物。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ecovative wants to take mycelium to the next level.

Ecovative希望將菌絲提升到下一個層次。

BAYER: Our current technical focus is developing the next generation of mycelium materials from (inaudible) scaffolding, to leather like materials, even meat replacements.

我們目前的技術重點是開發(fā)下一代菌絲體材料，從腳手架，到皮革類材料，甚至肉類替代品。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: AKA, mycelium bacon which is still in its testing phases. The company thinks mycelium could also play a major role in construction and even in regenerative medicine.

AKA，又名菌絲體培根，目前仍處于試驗階段。該公司認為菌絲還可以在建筑甚至再生醫(yī)學中發(fā)揮重要作用。

BAYER: It really has boundless possibilities and it comes from its ability to move from the micro scale to the macro scale.

真的有無限的可能性，無論是微觀尺度還是宏觀尺度。