The fashion industry produces over 100 billion garments per year, of which 60% are plastic based and 85% will end up in a dump before the end of the year. Considering that various micro and macro-organisms, such as fungi and more specifically their mycelium, are capable of biodegrading the main components of textile (cellulose and more complex plastic molecules) an opportunity to rethink the linearity of the textile industry emerges. Beyond breaking down the waste products, the mycelium hyphae network can produce mycelium-based materials, including leather-like materials, adoptable in the fashion industry.
This project investigates ways to biodegrade various combinations of denim textile waste, synthetic textile waste, food waste and spent coffee grounds. The mycelium used was from the Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster) fungi. The results show that P. ostreatus (oyster) mycelium grows on all the combinations of food waste (vegetable peels and coffee grounds) with textile waste (synthetic textile and denim textile), and even grows on denim textile waste only.
However, the mycelium did not entirely degrade the fibers but only partially digested it, leading to a leather-like composite made of the mycelium and remainder of its substrate. Provided the soft nature of the substrate, the textile waste and food waste mycelium composite is also malleable, and therefore interesting for further textile applications. A protocol for post processing of the flexible composite material using low energy and natural components (heat, water, glycerol, and beeswax) was created to make a composite flexible fungal material. The whole process thus enables a circular way of treating textiles by closing the loop of the current linear model, offering an opportunity to get rid of a poorly recycled waste and reducing the associated environmental impacts.
Substrate assays
Textile wastes tested: denim and synthetic textile waste.
The biodegradability of textile waste by Pleurotus ostreatus was assessed on two different types of textile wastes: denim textile waste and synthetic textile waste. Textile waste was not washed prior to experiments.
Food wastes tested for nutritional supplementing: vegetables peels and spent coffee grounds.
Conscious that textile waste only would be an extremely restrictive substrate, I decided to supplement the textile medium with food wastes that can commonly and easily be found.
Important result #2: P. ostreatus mycelium grows strong on all the mixes of textile wastes with food wastes.
This result is interesting in regards that it confirms synthetic textiles are not toxic to that mycelium. It also does not close the door to the possibilities of training the strain to digest synthetic textiles for bioremediation.
Important result #1: P. ostreatus mycelium grows on denim textile waste alone.
One of the most impressive results from this experiment was actually one of the controls. When put to grow on denim textile waste alone, P.ostreatus mycelium colonized the entiere petri dish and even though it did not grow strong, this result gives perspectives for the biodegradation of natural textiles. This textile was not pre-treated nor washed prior to inoculation.
Another important point that can be noticed from that result is that the mycelium grew very strong on the mycelium-textile-waste-food-wastes composites, leading to a composite of those three elements. Provided the flexible nature of the textile substrate, the composite itself is not rigid but also flexible.
Post processing
During the substrate assays, I observed that mycelium growing on textile waste and food waste could grow very thick and colonize the entiere petri dish, not leaving any space with air. However, it would not entierely eat the fibers and fibers would persist in the mycelium and waste mix. This gave me the idea to make a composite mycelium leather.
After reading scientific publications and going trough a lot of trial and error, I figured out the easiest way for me to post process the samples at my scale was to heat press the mycelium, plasticize it and coat it.
Mycelium from Pleurotus ostreatus, Ganoderma lucidum and Omphalatus nidiformis after heat pressing.
To find out what post-process to apply to my samples, I first made some attempts on mycelium samples that had grown on malt-agar petri-dishes.
Mycelium from Pleurotus ostreatus, Ganoderma lucidum and Omphalatus nidiformis after heat pressing.
After trying various different post processings, I came out with this protocol working for most mycelium samples: heat press, glycerol bath plasticizing and wax coating.
Mycelium, denim textile waste, coffe grounds and vegetable peels composite before post-processing
Mycelium from Pleurotus ostreatus, Ganoderma lucidum and Omphalatus nidiformis after post-processing.
Post processing: heat press the live mycelium 3x for 20 sec at 150°C, put it in a 20-40% glycerol bath overnight, dry at 35°C for 8 hours, coat with melted wax, heat press 3x for 20 sec at 150°C to make the wax layer even.
Pomagranate peels ink (left) and indian ink (right).
To check if the composite could be made with different visuals and aesthetics, I tried to paint it black. To attest how the dyeing process would work, I first used indian ink (natural) and painted the composite before the wax coating step. I then made some ink using pomagranate peels to continue with the idea of "only using waste" in the process.
Mycelium, denim textile waste, coffe grounds and vegetable peels composite after post-processing.
Mycelium, denim textile waste, coffe grounds and vegetable peels composite after post-processing and indian ink dye.
Pure and composite flexible mycelium materials.
Pure and composite flexible mycelium materials.
Pure andmposite flexible mycelium materials.Mycelium, denim textile waste, coffe grounds and vegetable peels composite after post-processing.
