Together, we make Leiden more sustainable

Leiden has been a city of knowledge and culture for centuries. Internationals have always played an important role in the ‘Sleutelstad’ and still do today. In business too, internationals are joining forces with locals to make the city even more sustainable.

Brazilian Emanuela Lopes and her partner Inge Schrijver grow oyster mushrooms under the name Fungi Farmers, using coffee grounds collected from over twenty locations in the city. “Only one percent of the coffee bean is actually used to make a cup of coffee,” Emanuela explains. “How great is it if we can reuse the rest?”

Their business is circular from start to finish. After harvesting, the mushrooms are sold at various locations, the remaining waste streams go either to the compost heap at the DZB Ecological Garden or to local chickens. Good but unsellable mushrooms are turned into croquettes by a local bakery. “We’re proud to be working in such a circular way,” says Inge. The mushrooms grow in containers located at the DZB site on the Nachtegaallaan and at The Field, where they also give workshops.

Although Emanuela feels very much at home in Leiden as an international, it helps that her partner is Dutch. “Inge understands the rules and, of course, speaks the language better than I do. That makes it easier to open doors.” She loves the city itself: “So much calmer than São Paulo, and people here are curious about what we do, and proud of their city, in a really nice way.”

With support from the Leids Stimuleringsfonds (a municipal grant) and a course (in English) at PLNT, the business is steadily growing. “We believe there’s a growing interest in edible mushrooms. And Leiden is the perfect place to grow them.”

Read the full article here.