VOA标准英语2010年-Green Packaging Replaces Petroleum-Bas

Ecocradle serves the same purpose as traditional foams² when used as a packaging material.

Buying a product these days often means you are getting more than you bargained for.

Unwrapping your latest purchase can leave the room strewn with the cardboard, plastic and packing foam¹ waste that kept your newest purchase protected until it reached the safety of your home.

That may soon change, however, with a new product that can be used as compost when its job as packaging is done.

Alternative to packaging foam

Packing foam is useful for only a few weeks or months before being tossed into the trash.

But after being thrown away, this petroleum-based material can survive for thousands of years in landfills. Now, there is an alternative to this wasteful³ practice: a new type of packing material that can be absorbed back into nature when its job is done.

Ecovative Design
Ecocradle can be used as compost when it is no longer needed for packaging.

Eben Bayer is the CEO and cofounder of Ecovative Design, which manufactures Ecocradle, a natural packing alternative.

"We source agricultural waste from around the world. So we have a regionalized or localized manufacturing process. If you're in the United States in the South you might use rice husks. In upstate New York where we're based we use things like buckwheat husks."

Bayer explains that agricultural waste products become the bulk, or main body, of the packing material, which is held together by mushroom roots, or mycelium.

"So we take these seed husks, we wet them, we cook them, we put them in a mold. We then add a liquid slurry of these mushroom cells or mycelium. And then over five days, indoors, in the dark, they self-assemble, they grow into packaging parts."

Saving even more energy

Ecovative Design is also working on a new sterilization⁴ process that's key to the growth of the mushroom cells. 

Bayer's business partner, Gavin McIntyre, developed a process that depends entirely⁵ on natural plant compounds that inhibit⁶ microbial growth. The compounds include oils from cinnamon-bark, thyme, oregano and lemongrass - and create an aroma⁷ that McIntyre likens to pizza. The process will reduce the amount of energy used by about one-fifth, meaning new versions of Ecocradle will use only one-fortieth the energy required to manufacture traditional foam packing materials.

This low-energy process will also free Ecovative Design from the traditional large scale manufacturing operations required by most packing companies. Instead, it hopes to locate its factories as close as possible to both its agricultural suppliers and its end-users. Bayer says this localized plan will save money and help the environment by reducing expensive transportation costs.

Happy customers

Steelcase, a global leader in the office furniture industry, recently switched from petroleum-based foam packaging to Ecocradle.

Dennis Carlson works with packaging design and development at Steelcase.

"What we found is that the Ecocradle materials that were being developed had very similar performance characteristics and, additionally, a very similar price-point."

Carlson says this switch was inspired by the company's desire to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. It has already generated some positive feedback from their customers.   

"People find it very interesting that we've gone this route. It [Ecocradle] decomposes⁸ in 30-45 days which is a really big deal, and something that they haven't been able to do with the previous foams. And they like the fact that they can either put it into a landfill and it'll break down or throw it in their garden."

Just the beginning

But Ecovative Design has its eye on replacing products in other markets, as well.

For example, Bayer says the company is developing a product called Greensulate to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to foam or fiberglass insulation⁹.

"Ecovative is not just a packaging company. Packaging is the first application for our material because it's a really terrible idea to use a product that lasts 10,000 years for a couple weeks. So our vision is not just to help revolutionize the packaging market, not just to revolutionize the building market, but we really want to become one of the leaders in sustainable materials in this century."

In the process, Bayer says, his company hopes to inspire others to do business in a way that values a healthy planet at least as much as healthy profits.

1 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

2 foams   

n.泡沫，泡沫材料( foam的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sea water foams under the bow. 海水在船首下面泛起浪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The meter handles gases, liquids, foams, and slurries. 这流量计可以处理气体，液体，泡沫状物和稀浆等。 来自辞典例句

3 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

4 sterilization   

n.杀菌，绝育；灭菌

参考例句：

• Sterilization by filtration is subject to one major theoretical limitation. 过滤灭菌具有一个理论上的局限性。 来自辞典例句
• Sterilization is a treatment that frees the treated object of all living organisms. 灭菌处理是从处理对象排除一切生活的生物。 来自辞典例句

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 inhibit   

vt.阻止，妨碍，抑制

参考例句：

• Don't let ego and greed inhibit clear thinking and hard work.不要让自我和贪婪妨碍清晰的思维和刻苦的工作。
• They passed a law to inhibit people from parking in the street.他们通过一项法令以阻止人们在街上停车。

7 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

8 decomposes   

腐烂( decompose的第三人称单数 )； （使）分解； 分解（某物质、光线等）

参考例句：

• The debris slowly decomposes into compost. 这些垃圾慢慢地分解成了堆肥。
• Plastic is a substance that hardly decomposes in the nature. 塑料是一种在自然中极难降解的物质。

9 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。