Ikea plans to use packaging made with mushrooms as an eco-friendly replacement for polystyrene, the Swedish retail giant has revealed.

瑞典家居用品巨头宜家家居日前表示，宜家计划用蘑菇制成的环保包装材料代替聚苯乙烯。

The flat-pack furniture retailer is looking at using the biodegradable "fungi packaging" as part of its efforts to reduce waste and increase recycling, Joanna Yarrow, head of sustainability for Ikea in the UK said.

宜家英国区可持续发展部部长乔安娜·亚罗表示，作为平板包装的家具零售商，宜家正考虑使用生物可降解的“蘑菇包装材料”，以减少资源浪费、促进资源再利用。

"We are looking for innovative alternatives to materials, such as replacing our polystyrene packaging with mycelium—fungi packaging," she said.

乔安娜说：“我们正在寻觅创新材料替代现有包装材料，比如用菌丝体这样的菌类材料来替代聚苯乙烯材料。”

Mycelium is the part of a fungus that grows in a mass of branched fibres, attaching to the soil or whatever it is growing on—in effect, mushroom roots.

菌丝体由大量纤细管状菌丝构成，植根于土壤等菌根中。

US firm Ecovative developed the product, which it calls Mushroom Packaging, by letting the mycelium grow around clean agricultural waste, such as corn stalks or husks.

美国Ecovative公司让菌丝体在玉米秸秆、玉米皮等干净的农业废弃物周围生长，培育出了这种名为“蘑菇包装材料”的真菌产品。

Over the space of a few days the fungus fibres bind the waste together, forming a solid shape, which is then dried to stop it growing any further.

仅需几日，真菌纤维就缠绕在废弃物周围，立体又结实，随后通过干燥真菌来阻止其继续生长。

Ms Yarrow told the Telegraph that Ikea was looking at introducing mycelium packaging because "a lot of products come in polystyrene, traditionally, which can't be—or is very difficult to—recycle".

亚罗女士告诉《每日电讯报》记者，宜家正考虑引进菌丝体包装材料，因为“许多产品都习惯由聚苯乙烯材料包装，但这种材料极难、甚至不可能被重复利用。”

While polystyrene takes thousands of years to decompose, mycelium packaging can be disposed of simply by throwing it in the garden where it will biodegrade naturally within a few weeks.

聚苯乙烯材料需要数千年才能降解，而菌丝体材料的降解程序简单，只要将它们扔在花园里，它们就能在几周内自然降解。

Ikea's green drive has already seen it launch vegetarian meatballs as a more eco-friendly alternative to the Swedish meatballs served in its cafes, because of concerns about the greenhouse gas emissions from beef and pork.

宜家之前还采取过其他绿色行动，比如在宜家餐厅供应更环保的素丸子来代替瑞典肉丸，因为考虑到肉丸所用的牛肉和猪肉在生产过程中会释放较多温室气体。