Closing the Circle

The title of this exhibit, “Closing the Circle”, is based on a form of circular agriculture, creating new products with waste.

In the Kivu region of Rwanda, coffee farmers derive their income from coffee only once a year when the beans reach maturity. After they have been washed, tons of cherry (coffee) pulp and other waste remain from the coffee. This is where the coffee chain normally ends.

Moulins du Nil Blanc, a Rwandan-based eco business, enables small coffee producers to receive a year-round income and not just at the moment the coffee cherry is harvested.

This is accomplished by recycling agricultural waste including coffee pulp from Rubavu coffee washing stations, wood waste, and cotton waste, and producing varied, delicious, nutritious, and eco-responsible, oyster mushrooms.

In a zero-waste system, the used mushroom substrate and vegetable waste are recycled to produce organic fertilizer. Which can be used to fertilize new or existing coffee trees, making this project circular agriculture which completes the coffee chain.

Glenn Vanderbeke