Ecocradle Natural Packaging
“Made from seed husks and mushroom roots. EcoCradle™ performs similarly to synthetic foams, but it takes far less energy to produce, is made of natural materials and is eco-friendly every step of the way. It’s great for the environment since it’s made of agricultural by-products that come from renewable sources.
This environmentally-friendly innovation is just as reliable, easy to use, and affordable as competing packaging products, and it’s an excellent replacement for custom molded foams like EPS and EPP. From creation to composting, EcoCradle packaging fits into nature’s recycling programme. The materials that go into EcoCradle are all naturally occurring waste products, like buckwheat hulls, rice hulls, or cotton burrs.
The production process harnesses the natural ability of their organism to self assemble lignin and cellulose into strong bio-composites. Because they grow materials without lots of heat, pressure, or petroleum, their process is extremely energy efficient. And once you’re done with an EcoCradle packaging buffer, it can be used as mulch in your garden, composted or even thrown away.
Unlike synthetic materials such as expanded polystyrene that are made from oil or natural gas, EcoCradle is all natural. It’s comprised of local agricultural by-products such as cotton burrs and buckwheat hulls. Ecovative Design strive to utilise agricultural wastes that have almost no value. They avoid crops that can be made into food, and because they focus on materials that are high in lignin, these typically can’t be used in a cellulosic ethanol processes.
The raw material inputs of EcoCradle are selected based on regionally available agricultural by-products. So a factory in Texas or China might use cotton burrs, and a factory in Virginia or Spain might use rice husks and soybean hulls. By manufacturing regionally, and using local feedstocks, the company aims to minimise the trucking of raw and finished materials.
They don’t manufacture EcoCradle, they grow it! Production of EcoCradle packaging uses the efficiency of nature to self-assemble. EcoCradle is grown in the dark, with no watering and no petrochemical inputs. Their organism grows quickly, in just 7 days it produces miles of tiny white fibres that envelope and digest the seed husks, binding them into a strong and beautiful final product.
Their entire process uses about 10 times less energy per unit of material than the manufacturing of synthetic foams. Additionally, their pilot plant on Green Island uses hydroelectric power which emits no green house gasses.
Steelcase Inc Story
Steelcase began in 1912 as ‘The Metal Office Furniture Company’ in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They received their first patent in 1914 for a steel wastebasket, a major innovation at a time when straw wastebaskets were a serious office fire hazard. That led to metal desks, and they believe they’ve led the way with product and service innovations ever since.
Today, their portfolio of solutions addresses the three core elements of an office environment: interior architecture, furniture and technology. They changed their name to ‘Steelcase’ in 1954. They approached Ecovative Design in May last year to replace their petrochemical based foam packaging. However, they weren’t willing to settle for any less performance that would risk hurting their exceptionally low shipping damage rate.
Throughout this development cycle, Ecovative Design worked closely with Steelcase’s packaging engineers, sustainability experts, test labs, and marketing team to clear any doubts about our bio-composite materials. Ecovative was able to meet and exceed Steelcase’s stringent requirements for performance, environmental responsibility, and cost.
Many of the materials and products in our everyday lives are made of non-renewable oil and natural gas. Ecovative had planned for the future and developed multiple blends of EcoCradle using different regional agricultural feedstocks from around the country. All their feedstocks are 100% renewable, and they use parts of the plant that have little or no use.
Their current production facility is powered by hydro electricity with zero carbon emissions. EcoCradle manufacturing in Texas will use cotton gin by-products, manufacturing in the Southeast will use rice hulls, manufacturing in the midwest will use oat hulls and manufacturing in the Northeast will use buckwheat hulls and soybean hulls.
By doing it this way they believe they minimise transportation emissions and cost. They’ve worked with Steelcase to fine tune the material properties of all of these blends so that they protect even better than the synthetic foams they replace.”
