photo credit: fotoosvanrobin
Two graduates of UC Berkley’s Business School think that they can turn used coffee grounds into high-profit mushrooms:
What do mushrooms and a pile of used coffee grounds have in common?
“Mushrooms biologically grow really well in hardwoods, and so, coffee acts like a hardwood biologically, and we can grow them pretty well in that,” said BTTR Ventures co-founder Nikhill Arora.
The mushrooms aren’t caffeinated produce, they just absorb all the coffee grounds’ nutrients. So, why in the world are two new graduates from UC Berkeley’s Business School, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez, growing mushrooms for a living?
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Seeded by a $5,000 social innovation grant from Cal, they researched and launched a for-profit social venture called BTTR Ventures; BTTR stands for “Back To The Roots.” The goal is to be a sustainable company focused on social responsibility. They’re accomplishing this by diverting one of America’s largest waste streams out of Bay Area landfills.
Video after the jump.