pasithea

Project Papershredder is now underway.

This is an experiment to convert waste paper products into edible mushrooms and compostable materials.

Problem Description: Paper recycling is not offered in many areas and most paper recycling does not handle soiled materials like pizza boxes, paper towels, and other paper surfaces which have come in contact with food, nor waxed boxes such as are often found with produce. Soiled paper materials cannot go directly into the compost bin as they do not decompose quickly.

Proposed Solution: Use an aggressive wood decomposing fungal strain to decompose cellulose into compostable materials and produce edible mushrooms.

Concerns:

~~Compared to wood, cardboard is nutrient-poor and mycelium may not grow well.~~Members of the Pleurotus (Oyster mushroom) family are grown commercially on this medium.
~~Fungi may not grow quickly or fruit at some annual temperatures.~~
- The major commercial strains of Pleurotus grow well in the wild in the local environment fruiting throughout most of the year.
- Lesser strains available from spore banks can be used to fruit at the higher temps of peak summer and winter months
~~Mushrooms could potentially absorb toxic materials from paper products~~

Pleurotus mushrooms are known to decompose PCBs without storing toxic compounds and are being used for cleanup of industrial sites Reference
Pleurotus family mushrooms are known to attack and consume bacteria such as E. Coli Reference
Pleurotus sp. are known to absorb heavy metals Reference However, there has been a move to soy-based inks in recent years and it is generally accepted that brown cardboard, newsprint, and the like are sufficiently safe for composting use. Glossy print should be avoided. Reference
Further precaution can be taken by blanching the paper products prior to introduction into the growth media and pouring off the waste water. This also reduces undesirable growth competitors such as molds.

Lab Notes:

Growth Medium:
1/2c brown rice flour
1c vermeculite
120ml of 'tea' made from steeping hickory wood chips in boiling water for 15 minutes

The dry elements of the growth media were mixed then liquid element added. This mixture was placed into a sterilized half pint jar.
Material is compacted slightly by tapping jar on counter.
Clean dry vermeculite was added to the top to create a weak vapor and contaminant barrier.
Jars were loosely lidded with lids which had four evenly-spaced punctures around the edge of the lid for later inoculation.
Jars covered over with aluminum foil.
Jars autoclaved in pressure cooker at 15PSI for 1hr allowed to cool naturally.

Inoculant:
Preparation of Pleurotus Pulmonarius spore suspended in liquid obtained from spore bank.

Process:
Inoculation date: 10-03-24 7:45PDT
After sterilization of growth media, inoculation of 0.25 cc per inoculation port (4 per culture).
Inoculation ports subsequently closed over with tape.
Lid is left loosely tightened to allow air exchange.
Growth media containers placed in low-light conditions at room temperature will be checked periodically for growth and contamination for approximately 1-2 weeks.