ANOTHER open community meeting is being held in Watchet to discuss progress on the new fungi based industry at the Wansbrough paper mill site.

The meeting, in Knights Templar school hall on Monday January 27, is hosted by Watchet-based social enterprise Onion Collective and London’s nature inspired construction company Biohm.

The pilot industry is now being constructed within the former packing shed with test production forecast for early March.

The project began in 2017, when Onion Collective won funding to carry out a feasibility study into what would be capable of creating the same level of jobs that were lost at the mill in 2015.

Onion Collective determined that bio-based material development – creating materials from substances derived from living organisms – was the way forward.

It saw it as the best opportunity for the area at this time, most capable of converting local resources into value; creating jobs; responding to the climate crisis, and remaining on a positive and lasting trajectory.

The group has since formed a partnership with bio-tech company Biohm to deliver this industry in Watchet. Together, they are working with mycelium – the roots of mushrooms – to process local organic waste, and from this process, to grow materials for the construction industry. They are working with a community panel and have committed to running these large open meetings every six months.

For the full report, buy tomorrow’s Free Press.