@article{Silm:2026:10.1016/j.resconrec.2026.108812,
author = {Silm, M and Jiang, Q and Kisand, A and Bismarck, A and Jones, MP},
doi = {10.1016/j.resconrec.2026.108812},
journal = {Resources Conservation and Recycling},
title = {Transforming textile waste into materials using fungi},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2026.108812},
volume = {228},
year = {2026}
}

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TY  - JOUR
AB  - Textile waste from ‘fast fashion’ has considerable environmental impact and is an EU priority area. Colonising textiles with fungi provides a unique solution, with options to bond them together to create composite materials, fruit them to provide mushrooms (source of chitin-glucan complex), or both. We produced mycelium-textile composites in analogy to traditional prepreg-based composite manufacturing, consolidating multiple textile stacks colonised with Ganoderma lucidum into a single material of customisable thickness and free-form geometry. An oxygen gradient existed through the cross-section of textile stacks, resulting in more growth on surface than core plies. Consolidated composites comprising only surface layers achieved tensile strengths up to ∼14 MPa. Their flexural and shear strengths (7 MPa and 0.5 MPa, respectively) indicated suitability for semi-structural construction applications. Waste textile substrate could also be fruited (5.7% w/w yield). These advances expand the stalled application of mycelium composites and provide a nature-based solution to textile upcycling.
AU  - Silm,M
AU  - Jiang,Q
AU  - Kisand,A
AU  - Bismarck,A
AU  - Jones,MP
DO  - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2026.108812
PY  - 2026///
SN  - 0921-3449
TI  - Transforming textile waste into materials using fungi
T2  - Resources Conservation and Recycling
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2026.108812
VL  - 228
ER  - 

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