Mycomaterials based zero-waste construction site fueled by mushroom farms residues

Our era inherits an outstanding challenge ; after centuries of industrial developments leading to exponential growth in capacities of extractions of resources and productions of goods, we are threatened by the accumulation of waste (production as well as post-consumption wastes) and the transport activities surrounding it (49.5 million tons of goods mover per day in the U.S. according to EPA, most of which will late on be move again to landfill or recycling facilities).

At Remedium Mycotech, we are working at solving waste management by implementing mycological based processes of upcycling, turning residues into useful materials. One of our target fields is the construction industry. 

Construction, renovation and demolition mobilize 17% of the total consumed energy in Canada while generating 35% of the annual waste in Quebec. Whereas mycotechnologies can be implemented in regards to most of the construction site waste. We will focus our presentation on one extreme case; the fine sortings.

To recycle the residues, sorting strategies have to be implemented and even when waste sorting is organized efficiently, a powder of fine sorting remains problematic as it can hardly be valued and can disturb waste management centers. However, this powder offers a specific interest for the development of mycelium based insulating material

This approach reduces the pressure induced by construction sites on landfills and waste management centers. It also reduces the transport cost and greenhouse gas emissions of wastes as well as those related to the insulation supply chain. Supplying thermo-acoustic insulation from upcycled waste also reduces the pressure on extraction of non-renewable raw materials. Moreover, better insulated housing reduces the energetic pressures to maintain the living environment comfortably; needing less heating in winter and less cooling in summer. Finally, the capacity to generate value from waste and useful quality products from upcycling allow us to hope to lower pressure on resources and infrastructures while accelerating the waste management and depollution funding by harnessing overconsumption itself. 

The mycotechnology discussed here has the potential to become one of the cornerstones of an ecological transition. Contrary to other approaches, it doesn't require the involvement from customers to change their habits to deploy and maximize its ecological impact. The mycelium based materials can be introduced through the supply chain of production of various goods, as well as housing project. As revolutionary as the algae based fuel by which no change of car is needed to stop consuming fossil fuel, but only the supply of the gaz station itself.

Mycelium Base Materials is a mycotechnology that mobilizes fungal chitin as a living polymer to digest and glue a substrate into an functional object. This substrate can be made of agricultural waste, as well as textile residues or in the discussed scenario, construction waste and left-overs. Once the material cultivation process is completed, it is conditioned by pressure and heat to annihilate the fungal organism while stabilizing and standardizing the product. No oil or chemical base additive is required, making the product safe for recycling and for composting.

The production process of Mycelium Based Materials generates 67% less carbon gas emissions than conventional products for which they offer alternatives(Wagner2018). The final product is a toxin-free material that could at most cost 80% less than conventional insulants(Jones&al.2020). Litterature now demonstrates its carbon-pitting capacity, imprisoning more carbon gas than it emits(Livne2022). Fine sorting of construction site residues serve as a valuable mycelium based insulation material and partial substrate as they can improve the sound-proofing quality and fire resistance capacity while being integrated by the fungal polymer. 

This apparatus of a greener economy could thus be fed by problematic residues, generating savings and value at the same time, while fixing carbon in its solid form into housing and reducing the pressure on actual waste management infrastructures. All that without having to convince the customer to change their habits, but simply by offering a mutually beneficial circular economy service to the housing contractor and construction site manager.

Our solution is designed as a crossroad of two loops of circular economy; the In Situ recycling of construction waste is fuel by a mycological input -the mycelium- which can be sourced at the end of the value circuit of mushroom farms. Post-harvest mycelium is not only abundant, it is known to be more resilient to contamination while colonizing faster the new substrates (Stamets2005). Thus, accelerating the cities adaptation to climate deregulation by better and greener insulation while supporting a capitalized waste management chain for the mushroom food and medicinal system.

In the pilot phase of the solution, selected contractors will host the waste management project on their construction sites. The elemental characterization will be taking place at Université de Montréal’s Biological Sciences laboratory facilities while the in vitro fungal culture analysis will be taking place at Remedium Mycotech facility. The material growing phase is planned to be tested and compared between an in situ experiment at construction sites and a controlled environment replica at Remedium Mycotech’s facility. 

Our solution serves first and foremost the climate and the whole ecosystem facing the actual disbalance. Structurally, it allows for a reduction of pressure on the current waste treatment processes (landfill and recycling centers) as on the transport industry (transport of goods and transport of waste). More directly, it concerns building contractors and construction planners as they will be invited to integrate the waste management / supply chain technology in their planification and execution. Down the line, an ecological strategy putting the spotlight on thermoacoustic insulation can also elevate the life quality of the inhabitants of those constructions. A quieter living space that keeps its warmth in winter and its chill in summer sure seems like a non-negligible benefit for the inhabitant while reducing the energetic needs to maintain comfortable housing temperature throughout the seasons.

By substituting an input in the supply chain of housing thermal and acoustic insulation, mycelium based materials allow us to allocate a part of that supply budget and to reassign it to waste management. 

By allowing this waste management task to be performed on-site, it allows significant reduction on transport (of waste and of supply) cost and gas emission, as well as reducing the pressure on the landfill and waste management facilities. 

This mutually benefits and dynamises a reduction of pressure on the extraction of raw material, its transport and transformation as the upcycled insulators can be entirely sourced from agri-food, textile and construction residues. 

To those direct savings, we can add the energy saving from better insulated housing as well as the carbon-pit quality of the mycelium based material. 

Mycotechnologies allows unique opportunities of empowerment as they require relatively low economical investment for the amount of value they can generate. It’s a great toolbox by which marginalized and minoritized groups and populations can value their voices and perspectives. 

As conceived by our team, our waste management technology can be a useful tool for more environmental leverage on commodity supply as well as more responsible resources management approaches. Numerous NGO as well as all levels of government are involved in those fields and could use this innovative approach to require more justice for the marginalized and minoritized groups and populations in the establishment of those community based waste management processes. 

The proposed technology could be highly beneficial to remote communities for whom commerce of goods and construction material supply chain is heavily penalized by the costs of transport. When adding to the “on site material cultivation” features the notion that those housing materials can be grown from various wastes, we see a great advantage of implantation for the Nordic Communities presently facing intense waste management challenges (partially due to permafrost) as well as housing problems. Our solution could provide significant help in those two challenges at once, stimulating synergistic ecology and economy.

Our team is driven by a philosophy or action research, seeking transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical reflection

Mycelium Remedium Mycotech is actually concluding the production of 700 mycelium based thermo-acoustic insulation panels for the Civilization Museum of Quebec, upcycling 6 tons of agri-food residue into highly valued useful material. This project opens the door for a circular economy collaborative loop where the museum would contract Mycelium Remedium Mycotech to upcycled some of their food and office residues into signage and sound proofing materials.

Investissement Québec is supporting a 3 years (2023-25) technological showcase of the mycelium based material as a waste management technology. This showcase is upcycling the Urban Farming cooperative La Centrale Agricole estimated 20 tons of agri-food residues per year into signage, furniture and insulation materials. It’s also a research space in which Université de Montréal’s Biological Sciences Laur’s lab expertise will be at work to support analytical and characterization needs of the project. 

Genome Canada is funding a Laur’s lab-IRBV 4 year research project (2023-2026) that gathers 25 partners from farmers, economic development initiatives, academic and research institutions from Québec and Ontario titled “Omics to close the loop: optimized amendment from local agrifood waste for carbon footprint reduction” which results will help sustain the discussed proposal’s repercussions, low cost and scaling. Mycelium Remedium Mycotech is actively involved in that project, supporting research on ways to lower the carbon footprint of applied mycology by replacing the energetic needs of substrates conditioning by organic treatment (microbial pre-fermentation).

Our project gathers microbiologists, socio-anthropologists, engineers, designers, economists, data scientists, biochimist as well as waste managers and symbiotic economy advisers. On the one hand, we are actively building a network of like minded academic searchers, industries leaders and waste managers to structure an innovative applied mycology action research center and to stimulate mutually beneficial synergies, technological showcases and a pledge for vivid green economy. On the other hand we are actively involved in community support and education, organizing workshop, lectures and hands-on activity, providing opportunity for people of all ages to get in touch with mycelium, to learn more about fungi and to gain trust to leave mycophobia (the fear of fungal organism) behind and to embrasse it crucial role in the ecological transition.

At the core of the project, stands a team of 6 full time mycomaterials international organic searchers ( involved in the fundamental aspect of the research as well as in the execution of the pilot scale up).

We have active research partnerships with two university research center (Université de Montréal’s Biological Sciences Laur’s lab and CHUM’s Metabolomic platform) and two college level technological transfer center (Biopterre and Serex) as well as numerous elementary, highschool and community center for education and communication platform. This involve a dozen of scientist and about 500 citizens.

During our pilot phase, we host weekly visit in our facilities. Most of the visitor are college and university groups of students in search of tools for the ecological transition. We have receive so far about 500 visitors and should reach 2000 by the end of 2024.

The project actually deploy two technological showcases, one at the Urban Farming Cooperative La Centrale Agricole (in Montreal, Canada), the other at the Civilization Museum of Quebec (Quebec, Canada). We estimate the showcases to be seen by 250 000 visitors while upcycling 26 tons of residues per year. A portion of the museum's technological showcase also travels around the world as part of an “ecological transition exhibition”, co-produce with the Barbican Center in London. Those mycelium based thermoacoustic insulants will be seen by nearly 2 millions visitors during their 3 year route.  

Finally, by taking part in the Genome Canada funded Laur’s lab-IRBV 4 year research project (2023-2026) “Omics to close the loop: optimized amendment from local agrifood waste for carbon footprint reduction”, our team will have the occasion to promote our project and our upcycling technologies to the team of 25 partners (from farmers, economic development initiatives, academic and research institutions from Québec and Ontario) as well as the reached public of the related educational and communicational aspect of that project. 

Our interest is now to implement a new technological showcase addressing the climate-housing challenges, as a proof of maturity of the process as well as a communicational opportunity to stimulate the momentum surrounding the social acceptability of our environmental approach.

While developing a project alone can bring a sense of freedom and an impression of speed, we always end up going way further though togetherness. We are always looking to expand our team and network with complementary expertises and push the project further in its capacity and influences. Time is scarce and challenges are numerous. Hence our application to the SOLVE program. Some of our research partners shared with us the call for project's proposal and thought joining the program would bring significant improvement.

We hope to find in the SOLVE program a vivid network of stimulant peers, a results driven group of active solvers with whom develop strong bond to enforce our capacities to face the ecological challenges or our time. Over the funding aspect of the proposal, the vouching of our initiative by your institution and gathering of experts is highly meaningful to our organization. 

While we have high interest in all areas cover by the program, our most critical need for support gravitates around innovation in the business model ( integrative circular economy and synergistic ecological transition development) as well as the legal or regulatory matter surrounding the waste-to-product concept and the corollary intellectual properties. 

Our innovative approach consists of working with mycelium based material as a waste management technology first and foremost. That perspective involves that we design our line of products from the problematic “waste deposits” around a given site, project or partner. 

Most of ecoconception of goods usually target either the sourcing of supply, either the biodegradability of the discard goods for their life cycle analysis. The mycelium based material add the innovative approaches of a significant thermodynamic gain in the production process (consume at least half the energy needed for equivalent goods), the carbon sink singularity (a well design mycomaterial absorbs more carbon than it release), the waste based upcycling capacities and the rarely observed benefits of accelerating other waste degradation if composted or dump in a landfill (mycelium act as a superfood for waste degrading microorganisms). 

As this technology offer a high value waste management loop for the mushroom farms wastes, it also support the mushroom farmer who could then capitalize their residues, thus reducing the economic pressures subjected by this ecosystem and allowing for more affordable mushroom foods and medecines.

At the end of the pilot phase of our development, one of our goal is to establish a mapping of impacts related to problematic waste deposits allowing us to start implementing local waste upcycling facilities feeding loops of dedicated circular economy loops.

This process also allows us to innovate in our business model and to stimulate small circular economy loops where a waste generator becomes a supplier in our chain of upcycling as well as a mycomaterial buyer, reintegrating the upcycling waste now mycomaterial in its supply chain. In the case of the housing challenge, a construction site’s waste management budget can catalyze a mycomaterial in situ facility that cultivates thermoacoustic insulation on site. Those products can then reintegrate the chain of value/supply without any transport and landfill specific costs. This allows the waste management and supply chain to withdraw carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the equation instead of trying to add less of it and could lead to the emission of carbon credits for the participant of the loop.

Our solution allows for a systemic reduction of pressure on the current waste treatment processes (landfill and recycling centers) as on the transport industry (transport of goods and transport of waste). More directly, it concerns building contractors and construction planners as they will be invited to integrate the waste management / supply chain technology in their planification and execution. Down the line, an ecological strategy putting the spotlight on thermoacoustic insulation can also elevate the life quality of the inhabitants of those constructions. A quieter living space that keeps its warmth in winter and its chill in summer sure seems like a non-negligible benefit for the inhabitant while reducing the energetic needs to maintain comfortable housing temperature throughout the seasons.

By substituting an input in the supply chain of housing thermal and acoustic insulation, mycelium based materials allow us to allocate a part of that supply budget and to reassign it to waste management. 

By allowing this waste management task to be performed on-site, it allows significant reduction on transport (of waste and of supply) cost and gas emission, as well as reducing the pressure on the landfill and waste management facilities. 

This mutually benefits and dynamises a reduction of pressure on the extraction of raw material, its transport and transformation as the upcycled insulators can be entirely sourced from agri-food, textile and construction residues. 

To those direct savings, we can add the energy saving from better insulated housing as well as the carbon-pit quality of the mycelium based material.

The first impact goal we measure is by the annual tons of residues that the technology allows to upcycled into useful material. We will upcycle 26 tons for 2024, 150 by 2025 and are aiming at detouring at least 1000 tons by 2029. Measured in multifamily housing alone, that represents a million square feet of housing insulated by mycelium based materials. 

The corollary impact goal we measure is by the amount of workers involved in the technology.  The project presently involves 6 full time and 12 part time workers. By 2025, our goal is to double that number and to mobilize a team of 10 full time and 30 part time workers. By 2029, our goal is to establish a network of 35 full time specialists and more or less 100 part time partners and allies. 

While more research is needed to measure with precision the carbon sink impact of the material in real life situations, preliminary studies indicate that the capacity is significant. Our humble goal is to preserve at least carbo-neutrality for the sum of our project and to study the improvement on our partners and clients carbon emission levels.

Our last goal for the coming 5 years is to improve affordability of the product and process by lowering the costs/ton of our intervention and goods by 6% every year.

Mycelium Base Materials is a mycotechnology that mobilizes fungal chitin as a living polymer to digest and glue a substrate into an functional object. This substrate can be made of agricultural waste, as well as textile residues or in the discussed scenario, construction waste and left-overs. Once the material cultivation process is completed, it is conditioned by pressure and heat to annihilate the fungal organism while stabilizing and standardizing the product. No oil or chemical base additive is required, making the product safe for recycling and for composting.

The production process of Mycelium Based Materials generates 67% less carbon gas emissions than conventional products for which they offer alternatives (Wagner 2018). The final product is a toxin-free material that could at most cost 80% less than conventional insulants (Jones et al. 2020). Litterature now demonstrates its carbon-pitting capacity, imprisoning more carbon gas than it emits (Livne 2022). Fine sorting of construction site residues serve as a valuable mycelium based insulation material and partial substrate as they can improve the sound-proofing quality and fire resistance capacity while being integrated by the fungal polymer. 

This apparatus of a greener economy could thus be fed by problematic residues, generating savings and value at the same time, while fixing carbon in its solid form into housing and reducing the pressure on actual waste management infrastructures. All that without having to convince the customer to change their habits, but simply by offering a mutually beneficial circular economy service to the housing contractor and construction site manager.

We presently have a team of 6 full time worker on site and 12 part-time worker though our partners participation

We have been developing the fundamentals for the last 4 years. In 2021, we prioritized the project and open academic collaborations and started to build a team of research and business partners. We obtained dedicated funding by april 2021 for the fundamental research (Metrology, strains development and so on) and by june 2022 for the technological showcase.

We consider diversity a strength, an asset and of intangible wealth. Our core team is made of workers from around the world (Brazil, Senegal, Columbia, Algeria, Romania, Canada) while our collaborators enrich a step further our horizons. We take part in inclusivity programs to open internship and position for students, youth, marginalized and minoritized people from the diversity, hoping to soon have the capacity to widen up our team and include more and more unicity and singularity to our work space. 

The foundation of our business model lays on the notion of a circular economy. We also see the notion of economical loop as a opportunity to convert “waste generator client” into “goods customers” as they could double their carbon reduction impact claim. 

This process also allows us to innovate in our business model and to stimulate small circular economy loops where a waste generator becomes a supplier in our chain of upcycling as well as a mycomaterial buyer, reintegrating the upcycling waste now mycomaterial in its supply chain. In the case of the housing challenge, a construction site’s waste management budget can catalyze a mycomaterial in situ facility that cultivates thermoacoustic insulation on site. Those products can then reintegrate the chain of value/supply without any transport and landfill specific costs. This allows the waste management and supply chain to withdraw carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the equation instead of trying to add less of it and could lead to the emission of carbon credits for the participant of the loop.

Beside the building contractors and construction planners will to integrate the waste management / supply chain technology in their planification and execution, an ecological strategy putting the spotlight on thermoacoustic insulation can also elevate the life quality of the inhabitants of those constructions. A quieter living space that keeps its warmth in winter and its chill in summer sure seems like a non-negligible benefit for the inhabitant while reducing the energetic needs to maintain comfortable housing temperature throughout the seasons.

By substituting an input in the supply chain of housing thermal and acoustic insulation, mycelium based materials allow us to allocate a part of that supply budget and to reassign it to waste management. 

By allowing this waste management task to be performed on-site, it allows significant reduction on transport (of waste and of supply) cost and gas emission, as well as reducing the pressure on the landfill and waste management facilities. 

This mutually benefits and dynamises a reduction of pressure on the extraction of raw material, its transport and transformation as the upcycled insulators can be entirely sourced from agri-food, textile and construction residues. 

To those direct savings, we can add the energy saving from better insulated housing as well as the carbon-pit quality of the mycelium based material. 

In sum, the virtuous circles of value and benefits feels like a rolling stone. The most significant unknown variable regarding the business plan seems for us the cost to surpass mycophobia along the chain of value. 

We consider sells to be the best and more reliable funding. In the process, research grants support our fundamental metrology and the development our or best practices. We already have a humble sufficient production/economical activity, bonified by subsides to make compensate the cost penalty of early adopter and to fuel acceleration of research initiative and demonstrations. Our present facility of 9000 square feet can support our research activities and a significant production for the coming year. We are looking to raise investment capital so that a scaling up of our operations can take place in 2025 in a factory like facility. We are actively campaigning to secure states (Canada, Québec and Montreal City) subsidies for that project but are looking for private investor to complete the financial architecture.

So far, we have secure the following grants (in canadian dollar)

MITCAS (Biopterre-Université de Montréal ) 

PhD support for Metrological Development. Mycomateiral as wastemanagement technology : 210 000$ (2021-23)

Investissement Québec - Coopérative La Centrale Agricole : 

Technological Showcase of Mycelium based materials as in situ waste management system 

100 000$ (2022-24)

Genomic Canada : Omics to close the loop: optimized amendment from local agrifood waste for carbon footprint reduction (2023-26).

110 000$ from the 4 000 000$ grant

Career Launcher : Salarial Subsides (2022-23) 42 000$

Emploi-Québec : Salarial subsides (2023-24) 48 000$

Two significant Clients

Musée des Civilisation de Québec (2023-24) 55 000$

Art public Montréal / Valérie Blass (2024-27) 95 000$