Dell to trial mushroom-based packaging on servers, hugs IT hippies

We’ve already seen Dell embracing the bamboo woods to package its products, so what’s next for Round Rock’s green fingers? Mushrooms, apparently. Unveiled on the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference yesterday is a biodegradable cushioning tray, that’s grown — yes, grown — out of a mold full of old cotton hulls, mushroom spawn, and nutritious agricultural waste. While it does take about five to 10 days for the mycelium (aka mushroom root) to form the specified shape, the merit of such process is that every one the energy required for the manufacture is supplied by the recycled waste, thus reducing other energy dependencies. What’s more, this fungal packaging has already passed Dell’s extensive lab tests “like a champ,” and it’ll soon be trialed on Multipack packaging shipments for the PowerEdge R710 servers. So that you can thank Michael , he’ll be in his usual tree house.