BTTR Ventures

1. What issue will your venture address?
Only .02% of a coffee bean is used in creating a cup of coffee, thus every day thousands of pounds of coffee grounds are dumped into our landfills. The current methods of growing mushrooms involve cutting down trees of developing countries to create woodchips to grow mushrooms on. The wood chips are then treated with environmentally unfriendly chemicals that get rid of living organisms. Because most mushroom farms aren’t local, the mushrooms have to be transported by cars or planes from hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles away, emitting harmful gases in the process. BTTR Ventures addresses all of these issues.

2. Why are YOU pursuing this specific issue?
BTTR Venture is composed of a team who is dedicated to sustainability, innovation, and giving back to the community. We believe that the current methods of commerce need to be revolutionized by instilling a double bottom-line of profits and social impact. We are a group of University of California, Berkeley students who wish to pursue the unconventional path of agriculture and social sustainability.

3. How will your venture solve this problem?
We collect thousands of pounds of used coffee grounds weekly from coffee shops to use it as a mushroom growing substrate, therefore diverting this large waste stream and reducing the number of trees that need to be chopped down. Because the coffee grounds have already been sterilized through the brewing process, we are able to bypass the chemical treating process. After the mushrooms have been harvested, we compost the leftover substrate and sell our compost to local nurseries. Because we are an urban-farm, we are able to deliver our product within an hour, thereby minimizing our carbon footprint and maintaining the freshness of our product.