FRIB is hosting “One Fun Guy’s Trash is Another Fungi’s Treasure,” an exhibit from the MSU Museum. While the museum is closed for an 18-month renovation project, it continues to serve students and faculty through new educational initiatives, outreach programs, and offsite exhibitions, such as the exhibit at FRIB.

Marc Friedman, a graduate student, and Alassane Sow, an undergraduate research assistant, both working under Dr. Gregory Bonito in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences at MSU, created the exhibit. The exhibit illustrates how various species of fungi could help alleviate food waste.

From the exhibit creators:

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), retailers and consumers in the United States waste approximately 31 percent, or 133 billion pounds, of the overall food supply. The food waste, which ends up in landfills, decomposes in environments low in oxygen and generates methane gases that account for approximately 14.1 percent of total methane emissions. Municipal landfills are the third-largest source of human-related methane emissions in the United States, according to the USDA.

But there is a way to combat these problems—converting food waste into edible fungi. Many cultures revere some species of fungi for their nutritional and medicinal components, namely because they break down dead plant material and absorb their nutrients.

“This project will culminate in aesthetically unique living sculptures made of edible and medicine fungi decomposing food waste in real-time,” said Dr. Bonito’s team in the exhibit abstract. “We hope to change the public's negative opinions of fungi by visibly presenting both the beauty and utility of this magnificent Kingdom of organisms.”

The exhibit, which displays edible and medicinal fungi, such as oyster and reishi mushrooms, growing on food waste like banana peels and coffee grounds, will run through the fall semester. The display is located at FRIB, in the common area outside of 1300 FRIB Laboratory. Students, faculty, and staff can view the exhibit through the window of FRIB’s easternmost office tower, across from the MSU Law College.