Social enterprise Mark Holder GroCycle’s urban mushroom farm featured on BBC 1

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By growing mushrooms on coffee grounds from cafes in Exeter, the GroCycle team turn a waste product into healthy, fresh, protein-rich Oyster mushrooms which are then sold in the local area.

“Traditional mushroom cultivation requires energy-intensive processes to sterilise the growing material. Coffee grounds are already sterilised when the coffee is brewed. That is what makes this way of growing mushrooms so sustainable” said Adam Sayner, company director.

The award-winning certified social enterprise has turned unused office space in Princesshay, right the heart of Exeter city centre into a productive space, where an otherwise wasted resource is then turned into food for the local population. Coffee waste is a huge problem; 80,000,000 cups of coffee are drunk each day in the UK, yet most of the waste coffee grounds are currently just being sent to landfill.

The project also provides testing and training opportunities. Through the company’s courses over 350 people have been trained and course members from over 15 countries around the world including Columbia, Australia and Iceland are learning how to grow mushrooms on used coffee grounds.

“We have built what we think is the most advanced urban mushroom farm on the planet!,” says Eric Jong, company director ” And like so many people we speak to, The One Show’s team was very intrigued and wanted to know more about how you can grow mushrooms using waste coffee grounds.”

With the UN predicting that 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, a more sustainable approach to urban waste and food production will be required.

“We picture a world where in just 5 years from now, there’ll be lots of cities around the word with an Urban Mushroom Farm,” adds Adam Sayner “It just makes so much sense to turn this waste into healthy food and add to a city’s food supply.”

GroCycle is a registered Social Enterprise with Social Enterprise Mark.