
Tackling youth unemployment by growing mushrooms from coffee waste - pmoriarty
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/indyventure/urban-mushrooms-social-enterprise-newcastle-coffee-grounds-youth-unemployment-a8457021.html
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ariehkovler
> Urban Mushrooms has already stopped six tonnes of coffee grounds from going
> to landfill.

As a late 80s kid I remember being told that nutrients sent to Landfill were
there forever, essentially lost because landfills are sealed off from the
wider ecosystem. I mean some gases get out and I guess some stuff gets eaten
by birds, but mostly it's good organic matter locked away forever. So anything
which saves organic gunk is good with me.

> Urban Mushrooms currently employs two staff and several apprentices

The impact on youth unemployment, though, seems kind of minimal.

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Gustomaximus
> Urban Mushrooms has already stopped six tonnes of coffee grounds from going
> to landfill.

What happens to the coffee grounds after the mushrooms are done growing? Not
trying to be a smartass. Genuinely curious given this is a core claim.

Regarding landfill, I've wondered if these site will be come super valuable in
100 years type thing. There must be huge mineral wealth someone will mine from
these one day. Kinda like us mining old mines tailings now our extraction
methods are better.

~~~
tren
Spent mushroom substrate is really good in compost (particularly
vermicompost). I worked on a small scale gourmet mushroom farm earlier this
year, it's easy enough to sell the spent medium to gardening businesses when
you're done growing mushrooms.

~~~
ariehkovler
I think all coffee grounds make decent fertiliser too, as well as decent
compost, even without mushroom.

~~~
stevehawk
coffee grounds alter the pH of whatever you use them in so you can't just
blindly use it as fertilizer. Just an FYI before people start throwing their
coffee grounds everywhere. It's worth researching whatever your growing to see
what pH it prefers and then treat accordingly.

~~~
redisman
They also just get moldy in "sterile-ish" environments like pots since there's
nothing there to break them down. Works ok in the yard though.

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sirwitti
In Vienna, Austria there's
[http://www.hutundstiel.at](http://www.hutundstiel.at) (german only for some
reason). They also grow oyster mushrooms on coffee waste and even pick up the
waste by bike.

Recently there are even sausages made of oyster mushrooms
([http://www.hermann-fleischlos.at](http://www.hermann-fleischlos.at) also
german). What's interesting about them is that they taste incredible
(vegetarian soy based sausages I tried are really terrible).

Anyway, it's really good to see some innovation going on with mushrooms!

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aoner
We grow oyster mushrooms at home using our used coffee grounds. I think we get
about two portions for meals each 5 weeks. We use a grow kit from
[https://www.rotterzwam.nl](https://www.rotterzwam.nl) but I think you can
easily do this at home. It's really fun and easy and you get some tasty
mushrooms as a reward :)

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Faaak
In Switzerland, Nespresso capsules are recycled a fair lot. You can find
nearly anywhere nespresso capsules bins. Even more, when you buy capsules
online, they give you a bag for you to throw your used capsules in. Once full,
you simply drop it in your mailbox and the mailman takes it away.

They are then recycled: the aluminium is smelted, and the coffee grounds
digested into methane which is then reinjected into the gas network

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pandasun
[http://www.bttrventures.com/](http://www.bttrventures.com/) has been doing
this since 2009

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bmer
How "easy" is it to grow poisonous mushrooms in one's coffee waste? What sort
of care do enthusiasts have to take?

~~~
tren
This is my main hobby outside my software gig. You're extremely unlikely to
grow poisonous mushrooms, the main problem you have is with unwanted moulds or
bacteria. As kartoffelmos says below, you need to sterilise the coffee
(creates a blank slate) or pasteurise it (keeps beneficial bacteria in the
coffee). A lot of the time, if you get super fresh coffee, it's effectively
already been pasteurised and you just need to introduce mushroom spawn to it.

If you like experimenting and growing your own food, it can be a really
interesting hobby

~~~
rando444
Do you have some more information or links for anyone that would like to get
started?

Beginner info / what type of environment to use or is ideal / tips for dealing
with mold, bacteria / common beginner mistakes / etc.

~~~
tren
Not sure where you're based, but as a first step, I'd probably recommend
buying a oyster mushroom grow kit locally or online. All you need to do is
mist it daily and you'll get oyster mushrooms in about a week. It will give
you an idea of what success looks like.

If you like that, then the next level of difficulty is creating your own
fruiting kits using mushroom spawn. I'm in Australia, but you can buy it from
somewhere like here if you're in the US: [http://out-grow.com/live-mushroom-
spawn-c-12/](http://out-grow.com/live-mushroom-spawn-c-12/). You basically mix
the spawn with treated straw or sawdust and put it in containers, the spawn
will colonise and shortly after you'll get mushrooms. Most sites will
recommend you sterilise or pasteurise the straw/sawdust (they call this the
substrate), but the easiest way to grow without pasteurising/sterilising is
using paper, see here as an example: [http://re-
thinkgreen.com/2016/02/24/mushroom-kit/](http://re-
thinkgreen.com/2016/02/24/mushroom-kit/)

Stamets is regarded as the guru, but I think "The Essential Guide to
Cultivating Mushrooms" ([https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Guide-Cultivating-
Mushrooms...](https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Guide-Cultivating-Mushrooms-
Techniques/dp/1612121462)) is a better starting point for the beginner. You
don't need to be as much of a clean freak as he makes out, there are plenty of
low-tech methods.

I'm in the process of writing a short guide on growing shiitake at home, it's
harder than oyster mushrooms but once you get the basics it's pretty easy too.
It's pretty crazy the amount of mushrooms you can grow with basically no
space, you can see my son here with some we harvested recently:
[http://www.mushroom.guide/](http://www.mushroom.guide/)

If you're in a bigger city, there should also be day courses to learn the
basics, search for something like "grow gourmet mushrooms [cityname]"

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adreamingsoul
I question the statement “fresh ground coffee is harmful to plants”. Any
source to that statement?

~~~
megamindbrian2
I believe it is harmful to microbes, bacteria, and mold in the soil. But it is
fine for plants already getting plenty of nutrients.

Possible source for how changing pH might affect soil
[https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/is-tap-water-
killi...](https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/is-tap-water-killing-your-
soil-the-experts-weigh-in)

