Beans means business with revolutionary idea

The team, from Ridgewood School in Doncaster, founded the Green Bean Co as part of the Young Enterprise scheme, after spotting an opportunity to create an eco-friendly business selling organic grow-your-own herb kids that use recycled coffee grounds as compost.

And the team, which includes Alysha Love, Grace Beecher, Niamh McCann and Olivia Dawson - all 17-years-old - have received a helping hand from Marco’s New York Italian in Sheffield, in the form of regular donations of used coffee grounds.

Mihai Tunariu, restaurant manager at Marco’s New York Italian, said: “The Green Bean Co’s idea to recycle used coffee grinds into compost really impressed us.

“It’s a fantastic concept and one that’s great for the environment. We’re thrilled to be helping the team and we’re sure their company is set for big things.”

Alysha Love, managing director of the Green Bean Co, said: “Like many students throughout the country we were given the opportunity to create a company on the Young Enterprise scheme. From the beginning, we were adamant that our company would address one of the leading issues in the 21st Century, food waste.

“We began researching different sources of food waste in the UK, and then developed solutions to help reduce this waste. After initial market research, we found that helping to reduce coffee waste was important, so we formed Green Bean Co.

“After deciding that we would require coffee grounds for our product, we identified Marco’s as a suitable source due to the popularity of the restaurants and the fact that it would have large amounts of ground coffee which is thrown away. The project allowed us to help reduce the companies waste, as well as giving us the opportunity to develop our company, so we would like to thank them for their support.

“In the future, we hope to develop our range of grow kits to include other organic produce as well as increasing the size of our company to help recycle as much waste as possible. Furthermore, we hope to find other ways to help reduce waste in the UK and promote more sustainable living.”

Visit www.greenbeanco.co.uk for details.