A TEESSIDER is Britain’s new karting king – less than three years after taking up the sport.

Middlesbrough’s Hassan Zafar was crowned British Indoor Karting Champion, beating over 5,000 competitors to the title.

The achievement is even more remarkable given Hassan’s first time behind the wheel came at the end of 2021 when he visited the TeamSport track in Stockton.

Now the 21-year-old has found himself in pole position for further glory after securing a tasty sponsorship deal with a firm determined to help make the sport a bit greener.

“I visited TeamSport’s indoor track in Portrak Lane for a bit of fun and never in my wildest dreams did I think that three years later I’d be British champion,” said Hassan, from Normanby. “A few months after my visit I realised that I was actually pretty good. TeamSport had a membership session where I could race against better drivers, and competing against them really brought the best out of me. “Everything has since just snowballed to the point where I was competing at an incredibly high level – and winning. “I’m absolutely over the moon, it was a genuinely amazing feeling when I realised I’d won it and the buzz I get from karting is out of this world.” And despite karting’s gas-guzzling reputation, Hassan has secured a major sponsorship with a company determined to tackle global warming.

Plant-based manufacturer Myco is the brains behind a pioneering protein called Hooba. The oyster mushroom-based protein is crafted using one of the most sustainable production methods in the food industry – leading to their quarter pounder being dubbed ‘Britain’s Greenest Burger’. For Hassan, who often eats a vegan-friendly diet, the North Yorkshire food firm is helping to fuel his rise in the rankings – while the firm’s CEO, David Wood, is keen to help develop the sport. “Karting, and motor racing in general, has never had a great reputation for sustainability but that’s definitely starting to change,” added David. “At TeamSport, where Hassan learned his craft, the business has really pushed the environmental envelope by converting some of their tracks to cater for electric vehicles and that’s the sort of innovative approach that has attracted us to get involved in karting. “At Myco, our approach is also driven by innovation – our production site is the most unique in the UK and we are focused on working with the meat industry, not against it – to find sustainable solutions to lowering meat consumption and tackling the climate crisis. “That’s why we are so thrilled to support Hassan.”

For more information on Myco and Hooba, please visit their website.

Source: Myco

Mushroom growers are known as the “ultimate recyclers” in the agriculture industry, using byproducts and waste from other sectors to make compost. Through the recycling of agricultural crops and byproducts, mushroom farms have a smaller environmental footprint than almost any other agricultural operation.

At Mush Comb, we are committed to a sustainable world. We contribute by manufacturing customized machinery. We understand that each mushroom business is unique, with its own set of needs and challenges. That's why we offer more than just standardized machinery. We have delivered machines to over 50 countries and have satisfied customers worldwide.

Our team works closely with you to design and develop machinery that seamlessly integrates into your operations, optimizing efficiency and productivity. Whether you're a small producer or a commercial operation, our customized solutions are tailored to meet your specific requirements. We provide full project consultancy, installation, maintenance, and support for our machines.

Visit our website or contact us at +31 (0)77 398 3929 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to learn more about our services.

‘fungi stool’ BY satoshi itasaka

In an effort to learn more about natural decomposers such as fungi and bacteria, Japanese designer Satoshi Itasaka unveils the ‘Fungi Stool’. As its title suggests, the stainless steel and wood stool is composed of fungi that grow and bloom, like flowers, into mushrooms.

‘It is no exaggeration to say that the cycles of nature are carried out by bacteria and fungi,’ Itasaka notes. ‘Bacteria and fungi have been the decomposers in the food chain keeping the earth’s environment in a healthy state. They are the ones we should follow for we are constantly putting a burden on the earth in terms of the global environment.’

Preserving fungi decomposers

Satoshi Itasaka’s Fungi Stool highlights the importance of preserving fungi decomposers as they play a crucial role in our ecosystem. It also proposes a more sustainable direction to furniture design. Its seat is made up of a circle of six discs that somewhat resemble mushroom caps huddled next to each other.

‘There are about 100 trillion bacteria in our bodies’, the product designer explains. ‘Therefore, we live in symbiosis with about three times as many bacteria as our own cells. Although we are sometimes tormented by bacteria, the environment in which we live would not be possible without decomposers such as fungi and bacteria. The world is in the midst of a sanitization boom, but I designed a device to learn more about these decomposers, not to get rid of them. I found that the fungi grew unexpectedly in that apparatus. The fungi grew and blossomed like flowers, producing numerous beautiful mushrooms.’

Source: Designboom

Gentle on the Planet

Stakeholders across the food product supply chain are increasingly interested in understanding the environmental effects of food production. Mushrooms have a unique growing process unlike any other produce item and are considered “one of the most sustainably produced foods in the United States1.” Consider this:

• They are grown in the absence of sunlight in a climate-controlled environment.1
• One pound of production requires only 1.8 gallons of water; 1.0 kilowatt hours of energy; generates only .7 pounds of CO2 equivalent emissions.1
• Up to 1 million pounds produced on just 1 acre.1

A 2018 study2 published in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment looked at the cradle-to-gate life cycle environmental impacts of mushroom production in the United States from cultivation to harvest and preparation for bulk packaging. The goal was to create a “baseline” estimate of energy use, global warming potential (GWP), water use, and other common environmental impacts.

Please read the full article here.

A Gisborne entrepreneur will soon open the region’s first “zero waste, grow your own mushroom” business that focuses on reusing waste products.

Mariska Van Gaalen is the founder of Mushroom Zero Waste an initiative that reuses plastic containers and waste materials to grow mushrooms in a sustainable way.

She says that for her to start a business meant being responsible for the entire life cycle of the product, and avoiding the production of any additional waste.

Ms Van Gaalen uses plastic containers collected from a restaurant to hold unused wooden shavings, coffee grounds and mycelium — the fungus — to grow native oyster mushrooms.

Please read the full article here.

Source: Gisborneherald, by Avneesh Vincent

Today, consumers are beginning to use one more guideline to determine how to spend their food dollars – sustainability. The public is increasingly curious about where and how their food is produced and what impact it has on the environment; and for good reason, the world’s population is rapidly expanding, and it’s estimated there will be over 9 billion people on the planet by 2050.

A mushroom sustainability study reveals the mighty mushroom not only is healthy on the plate, it’s also gentle on the planet.

The study finds production of a pound of mushrooms requires only 1.8 gallons of water and 1.0 kilowatt hours of energy, and generates only .7 pounds of CO2 equivalent emissions. In addition, the annual average yield of mushrooms is 7.1 pounds per square foot – meaning up to 1 million pounds of mushrooms can be produced on just one acre.
Even though this research is from 2017, it becomes even more relevant in the coming years.

Please click here for the full article and research material.

In May 2020, the Shiitake Biltong team from Maastricht took part in the student competition Ecotrophelia. They have continued to develop new food products. Soon they hope to start their own company that will enter the market with potato chips based on mushrooms.

For Ecotrophelia, the group of Maastricht students presented a vegetarian variant of the biltong which is popular in South Africa; a snack consisting of dried strips of meat that resembles beef jerky. The students won the Dutch final with it and were also allowed to present the idea during the European final.

After the team took another critical look at the idea, the students came to the conclusion that shiitake as a raw material was not such a smart choice. Good shiitake is hard to get and must be imported from Asia. That is expensive and not really sustainable.

The team went back to work and now opted for raw materials from a Dutch residual flow. They developed mushrooms based on pieces of sliced ​​mushrooms. The idea has been elaborated in a business plan, contacts have been made with suppliers, buyers and a possible producer. At this time the production process is optimized and the students are about to start their own company.

Source: Foodholland (article is in Dutch)

Adidas has announced it’s launching a line of sneakers made from mushroom-based leather.

As part of a 2021 sustainability initiative from Europe’s largest sportswear manufacturer, the new Stan Smiths will be entirely vegan, and created using mycelium: that is, the vegetative part of fungi that produces mushrooms.

On December 28, the German multinational announced that “adidas seeks to break new ground: Together with partners, adidas is developing a new material, a purely biological leather alternative made from mycelium, and will use it for the very first time in the creation of footwear.”

This isn’t the company’s first foray into vegan footwear. In 2020, Adidas launched plant-based versions of several classic sneakers, which quickly became bestsellers. Now it’s completely renounced the use of fur in all products, and it’s working with partners on other sustainability projects that include recycling cotton and developing a “particularly climate-friendly running shoe” as part of a drive that will see 60% of all Adidas products in 2021 being made with sustainable materials.

Please read the full article here.

Source: Good News Network

Blue mushroom trays will be removed from the shelf and will be replaced by circular packaging
The famous blue mushroom trays are sold from supermarkets. Verstappen developed a new packaging line for mushrooms and mushrooms for Albert Heijn. The trays are completely transparent and consist of 100% recycled PET bottles. With this, Verstappen is taking another step in making business operations and the production of packaging materials more sustainable.

Circular process
The new packaging from Verstappen contributes to the circular economy to which the company attaches great value. Mieke Verstappen, director of Verstappen explains: “The great thing about this innovation is that the plastic used has already been in the shops as consumer packaging and is extremely suitable for making new food packaging. In this way we can permanently reuse the material. A perfect example of the circular economy. ”

Please read the full article (in Dutch) here.

Source: Duurzaam Ondernemen