Okay Geek Farm
Dell wants to pack your next server in Mushrooms
Brandon Davenport
When it comes to getting a new computer it’s usually smothered in styrofoam and packed in a big cardboard box. When you have the job of shipping $25,000 dollars worth of computer parts, you want to make sure they get there safely and pack them in a safe space. Dell has this job to make sure their products are packed safely, but the enviornment is important too… that’s why they are looking for an alternative to today’s packaging. Mushrooms.
Oliver Campbell from Dell showing it offPacking computers in mushrooms seems like a pretty crazy idea, but when you understand how they plan to do it, the idea really starts to make sense. What they plan to do is a manufacturing process where they first build a mold, then fill it with cotton husks, which is a product left over from cotton gins. Next it injects baby mushrooms which eat the sugars and carbohydrates in the cotton and start growing. Once the mushrooms form roots, they harden and fill the mold creating the packaging to ship computers in.
This is obviously really environmentally friendly and the process to create the packaging doesn’t rely on carbon or nuclear based fuels. The packaging is about the same weight as the styrofoam padding that we’re used to finding in boxes, but the new mushroom packing is better in many ways, but it still has to be tested. We’re looking forward to this Dell.
