Project
From coffee grounds collected in collective or private catering facilities in Marseille, the association ensures the only production of mushrooms in the department. At the beginning of 2017, Champignons de Marseille started producing just oyster mushrooms, because this woody fungus adapts very well to the coffee grounds and allows good yields to be obtained. The association has recreated the natural growing conditions of oyster mushrooms that grow on decaying tree trunks in the forest. The recipe is simple: coffee grounds, brown cardboard and untreated wood chips are mixed to form a 100% urban and natural substrate. The mushrooms are now produced at the Agricultural High School of Calanques and no longer in the former banana-ripening facility in the city center under the Cours Julien street.
In the long term, other productions are envisaged while preserving the principle and the techniques of valorization of urban bio-waste. One possibility for the association would be to move towards a specialization in composting methods.
Regarding the collection process, partnerships have been created with companies, hotels, restaurants etc. This bio-waste collection service provided by the association is called "Marc contre pleurote". The structures providing coffee grounds thus accumulate "mushrooms credits" which will then be used to offer
- Either fresh mushrooms for employees or the canteen of the establishment
- Or team building workshops within the company around the production of mushroom culture kits, mushroom cooking workshops etc.
The project was launched concretely in November 2018 and aims to produce between 300 and 400 kilos of oyster mushrooms / month and to reuse between 4 and 6 tons of coffee grounds / month. The partners of the association are all within 40 km around the mushroom making facility and Les Champignons de Marseille offers deliveries to Marseille and Aix, to restaurants, supermarkets, grocery stores etc.
Project leaders
The association brings together about ten people. It was initiated in 2016 by Nicolas d'Azémar who was then working in a local farmers grocery store. He noted that many people wanted to buy local mushrooms and no producer was offering this product at the departmental level. He started this adventure and became the first employee of the association as a production manager of mushrooms on bio-waste. By 2020, the association would like to be able to create 3 additional jobs.
The Little Extra
The peculiarity of this project is that it is installed in an agricultural school, which allows the association to develop urban agriculture projects integrated to the educational programs of the students.
Written by Alice Deshons, LFC volunteer - January 2019.
Last modification : 30 Mar 2020.
Champignons de Marseille
"Champignons de Marseille" (the mushrooms of Marseille) was born from the observation that there was no mushroom production in the Bouches-du-Rhône department and the desire to develop an innovative initiative allowing the reuse of bio-waste.