Wiebe Wakker
March 20, 2016
RotterZwam is an initiative based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They collect coffee waste locally and grown oyster mushrooms on it. The mushrooms are then sold to local restaurants etc. The mushrooms are a delicatesse and can be used in pasta, soup and bitterballen.
The organization was founded three years ago by Mark & Siemen, also known as urban farmers. Mark had 6 years experience in green business but saw that this was not enough and wanted to change things radically.
Coffee is after oil the most traded commodity in the world and RotterZwam’s aim is to go from waste-reduction to food-production. Every week they collect 1000 to 1500 kilo of coffee waste, this is not even 1% of the total amount of the city’s waste. It takes about three weeks to grow mushrooms and from every bag they can harvest mushrooms three times.
RotterZwam is based in Tropicana. This used to be an iconic swimming pool and had been abandoned for a few years. Mark and some other guys decided it was time to give the swimming pool a new purpose and founded BlueCity. Now the location is home to various sustainable companies.
In this interview Mark Slegers tells about the organization, their goals and the why. Melissa van der Beek explains how the process works.
