Ikea plans to use packaging made with mushrooms as an eco-friendly replacement for polystyrene, the Swedish retail giant has revealed.
瑞典家居用品巨頭宜家家居日前表示，宜家計劃用蘑菇制成的環保包裝材料代替聚苯乙烯。

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.
宜家英國區可持續發展部部長喬安娜·亞羅表示，作為平板包裝的家具零售商，宜家正考慮使用生物可降解的“蘑菇包裝材料”，以減少資源浪費、促進資源再利用。

"We are looking for innovative alternatives to materials, such as replacing our polystyrene packaging with mycelium - fungi packaging," she said.
喬安娜說：“我們正在尋覓創新材料替代現有包裝材料，比如用菌絲體這樣的菌類材料來替代聚苯乙烯材料。”

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.
菌絲體由大量纖細管狀菌絲構成，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.
美國Ecovative公司讓菌絲體在玉米秸稈、玉米皮等干凈的農業廢棄物周圍生長，培育出了這種名為“蘑菇包裝材料”的真菌產品。

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.
僅需幾日，真菌纖維就纏繞在廢棄物周圍，立體又結實，隨后通過干燥真菌來阻止其繼續生長。

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".
亞羅女士告訴《每日電訊報》記者，宜家正考慮引進菌絲體包裝材料，因為“許多產品都習慣由聚苯乙烯材料包裝，但這種材料極難、甚至不可能被重復利用。”

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.
聚苯乙烯材料需要數千年才能降解，而菌絲體材料的降解程序簡單，只要將它們扔在花園里，它們就能在幾周內自然降解。

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.
宜家之前還采取過其他綠色行動，比如在宜家餐廳供應更環保的素丸子來代替瑞典肉丸，因為考慮到肉丸所用的牛肉和豬肉在生產過程中會釋放較多溫室氣體。

Vocabulary

fungi: 真菌；菌類；蘑菇
polystyrene: 聚苯乙烯
mycelium: 菌絲；菌絲體

英文來源：每日電訊報
譯者：郭雯熙
審校&編輯：丹妮