New roots for green businesses

As the world economy increasingly collides with the limits of linear, “cradle-to-grave” production, more eyes are turning towards resource synergies, upcycling, and improved efficiencies to relieve some economic pressure and get more value with less waste.

Take coffee. For every pound of coffee beans harvested (of which there were 17 billion in 2010, according to the International Coffee Organization), four pounds of pulp must be collected, and it is generally considered a waste product that is left in heaps to rot. But some companies, such as Equator Coffees & Teas and Thanksgiving Coffee, are supporting efforts to train farmers in Zimbabwe and Tanzania how to use coffee pulp as a substrate for growing oyster mushrooms. As a double bonus, growing mushrooms in it turns the coffee pulp into an excellent animal feed, and sends the nutrients along to become rich manure, and meat and dairy products. These innovations are helping rural villagers (especially women, whom most of the programs focus on) to diversify their income, establish food sovereignty, and cut back on agricultural waste.

Now let’s tune in to the California version. Mushrooms can also be grown in used coffee grounds, which coffee shops throw away in great quantity, and when a business ethics professor at Berkeley mentioned this fact two students started experimenting. Alexandro Velez and Nikhil Arora grew their first crop of oyster mushrooms in a five-gallon bucket in a frat house kitchen, and before long they had eschewed their offers from a consulting firm and an investment bank, and founded Back to the Roots Ventures. Their company now collects 10 tons per week of used coffee grounds from Peet’s Coffee locations in the Bay Area, inoculates the stuff with pearl oyster mushroom mycelium, and sells it packaged as grow-your-own-mushroom kits. Whole Foods now carries them in stores nationwide, and the kits are also available online.

Read the complete story at Earth Island Journal.