1. Fantastic fungi

Image: GroCycle

GroCycle, launched by Devon-based social enterprise Fungi Futures CIC, grows oyster mushrooms from waste coffee grounds. The team test ideas in their Exeter mushroom farm and sell home ‘gourmet mushrooms’ kits. They say they have so far taught the technique to people in more than 40 countries.

2. Cool beans

Image: bio-bean limited

Bio-bean recycles waste coffee grounds into biomass briquettes and pellets, and is researching biodiesel and biochemicals production too. It sells coffee logs for stoves and fires, plus coffee pellets to heat buildings – a sustainable alternative to imported woody biomass.

3. Latte arty

Image: Ghidaq Al-Nizar

Indonesian artist Ghidaq Al-Nizar puts coffee leftovers to creative use: he produces intricate works of art using coffee grounds and shares them on social media using #zerowastecoffee. He paints on to paper, plates and even leaves.

This article is featured in issue 90 of Positive News magazine. Become a subscriber member to receive Positive News magazine delivered to your door, plus you’ll get access to exclusive member benefits.

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A faint aroma of coffee drifts through the entrance of a charity shop in East London. Inside, on a gleaming red tricycle and coffee cart, a man is producing fine cups of artisan coffee.

We Walk the Line is a not-for-profit social enterprise that helps young and disadvantaged people become their own boss, by teaching them the skills and attributes they need to run their own business.

Kieron Tilley, co-founder of We Walk the Line, explained the idea behind locating a coffee-making tricycle in a charity shop and the system that brews the result.

Tilley believes there are not enough opportunities for marginalised people to set themselves up in business. He said: “It seemed to us that there weren’t many mechanisms out there to support those young and disadvantaged people into self-employment status. So we came up with this idea, to offer an apprenticeship in business and barista skills, with the end goal of using these skills to set up on your own, running a micro coffee business.”

The social enterprise helps those who have been sidelined by society and supports them to become self-employed as baristas. Tilley sees the entrepreneurial training as a way for talented but marginalised individuals to get back on their feet.

“We help with the buying of stock, with ongoing marketing and support, paperwork, licensing and that sort of thing. And in return you run your coffee concession as a self-employed person, supported by the social enterprise.”

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Tom Harris, the man on the red tricycle, is We Walk the Line’s first barista and started trading four months ago, selling coffee from his mobile cart. As well as the charity shop, Harris has been serving fantastic coffee at street markets and corporate events, including events for Ben & Jerry’s.

Tilley and his co-founder Mat Corbett have previously worked with dispossessed people and their experience is telling. The self-employment model of We Walk the Line promotes independence with support that lasts for up to two years following the start of any new trading activity.

“We can help them attain an accreditation in enterprise. It just so happens that our pilot phase is looking at developing skills in business and barista work. But in five years’ time it could be business and floristry or business and cycle repair, for example,” Tilley explains.

Moving forward We Walk the Line wants to expand by finding new locations to place its coffee carts. Hotel lobbies, train stations, corporate lobby spaces and charity shops are all on the agenda and in five years’ time they would like to have hundreds of people working for themselves, as self-sufficient business people.

“Turning an idea into something sustainable is a challenge. The trick is to get the right person in the right pitch, selling the right product at the right price,” says Tilley.

We Walk The Line are currently located at Dalston Roof Park, in the Bootstrap building.

This article was written by Christopher Ubsdell while taking part in the Big Issue online journalism programme with Poached Creative. To find out more visit their website.

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An estimated 80 million cups of coffee are consumed in the UK every day and with the recent wave of fair trade products, coffee is starting to taste all the more sweet. But while we might be proud of our ethical statistics, how are we doing environmentally?

With every latte, cappuccino or mocha there comes a certain amount of waste and by the end of the week, cafes are left with sacks full of used coffee grounds. UK coffee chains produce 300 tonnes of this waste a week according to researchers Allegra Strategies. Home filter systems also accumulate a substantial amount of waste grounds, which are dumped straight in the bin.

However, it’s not all bitter. A growing number of independent and branded cafes have started to bag up and give away grounds to customers as part of a new recycling push.

As recent environmental research suggests, coffee needn’t be thrown on to landfill but instead can be put to good use in the garden. While coffee isn’t a British product and is very high in acid, there are many qualities that have proven quite helpful for British soil, if used in the right way.

Fungi Futures, a social enterprise in the South West, are collecting coffee grounds from local cafes and mixing them with shredded cardboard waste and mushroom spawn. This unique environment helps to produce delicious and nutritious homegrown oyster mushrooms, which are then sold to restaurants and farm shops in Plymouth and are also available online.

It’s not just mushrooms that have developed a thirst for coffee. Tomatoes have also proven susceptible. This is the perfect solution to resolving household waste, as they only need a few shots a week. So next time you empty the filter, keep the coffee in a pot until your tomatoes look hungry.

The acid present in coffee also acts as an excellent deterrent to pesky slugs and will leave your home-growns nibble free. Earthworms however, love the stuff; sprinkle your grounds onto your plot and let nature do the rest.

So, we now know that coffee helps the garden, but that takes time. What about coffee lovers looking for that instant fix? The answer is soap. It may come as a surprise to learn that coffee is actually a natural deodoriser.

Coffee is also creeping its way onto the clothes rail. Loved for its odour and UV resistant qualities, coffee is the secret agent to a growing number of manufacturers, such as Virus in California or Singtex in Taiwan. By recycling waste coffee grounds into yarn, it is then used to create sustainable fabrics often found in sports wear.

So, it would seem that as well as getting better ethically, coffee can be good environmentally and comes with new economic prospects too. Although we’re unlikely to see doctors start proclaiming it benefits to us physically, all in all we may have found ourselves the world’s best drink.

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