Arda Biomaterials “taps” Bermondsey Beer Mile for feedstock

In London, a startup producing a leather alternative using spent grains from local beer brewers hopes to launch its first product later this year.

Founded in 2022 by vegetarians Brett Cotten and Edward Mitchell, Arda Biomaterials gathers its feedstock from the Bermondsey Beer Mile, so named for its copious number breweries and beer bars. The area generates 1,000 metric tons of brewery waste annually.

Cotton and Mitchell told Fast Company brewers’ spent grains are usually burned or sent to landfills, but could be sustainably repurposed instead.  “You need 16 cows to upholster a car, [but] just 10% of the world’s supply of spent grain would be enough to satisfy the global demand for leather—that’s how much there is lying around,” Cotten says.