INITIATIVE ET DEVELOPPEMENT CITOYEN
Carcassonne, France
⭐️ Activity Title
Volunteer at our Mushrooms Circular Economy Project!
🔷 Activity Details
Description
We are looking for 2 long term volunteers, who will work in this circular economy project called Café Vert! Since 2020, our ESC volunteers are part of this experience. Our cooperative IDC's projects aim to raise awareness about the actual context we are living and to propose and create solutions to be part of a positive change in a social, cultural and environmental aspect. In this project especifically, we will reuse waste to create new life. You will collect coffee waste from cafés and restaurants (by cargo bike!) and mix it with mycellieum to grow oyster mushrooms. Then monitor their growth, harvest and sell them in a local market. And after harvesting, we use that new “waste” in our earth-worm farm, which is great to create new and rich soil for plants.
Accommodation, food and transport arrangements
Volunteers will stay in shared rooms with other person of the same sex, in an appartment in the city center of Carcassonne (just some meters from the main square!). All the transport from the city to the campsite, related to the activities, are covered. Volunteers will share the common tasks of cleaning, cooking and arranging the place. We will give the food budget so that volunteers can make the shopping. We don’t buy industrial food and we try to eat as local and seasonal as possible. And of course, we eat very, very local, eco and fresh mushrooms!
Training during the activity
Volunteers will learn how to grow mushrooms from coffee waste (from the collection step to the selling of the products), how to structure and communicate workshops and events, how to participate in local markets, and they will learn different sustainable practices to be more ethical and respectful with the environment. They will be able to lead them after or to propose new ideas/projects around sustainability, local and organic agriculture, intercultural exchange... And help in the communication of the project.
Participant profile
We are looking for youngsters who want to invest themselves in a new life experience, with lots of challenges and learnings! Motivation to learn how to grow mushrooms is a must! The activities are a bit of a routine, but it demands lots of observation in the details to make sure that the production will go as planned. There is also space for creativity and new ideas, in terms of improvement of the activities, creating cool content to share the project, creating events, etc. French is a bonus! We are looking for volunteers to stay for at least 6 months, and there is the possibility of staying for a whole year. If you are available to come a bit after the date of the offer, it can be possible! Please, send us your CV to contact@lesjardiniersdelamobilite.fr so we can send you the next steps for the selection process.
🔑 Key Information
Activity dates
From 05/06/2026 to 31/12/2026
Activity location
Carcassonne, France
Activity type
Individual volunteering
Looking for participants from
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
Activity topics
Environment and natural protection
Deadline for applications
Application deadline: 04/06/2026 14:26
Project code
2025-1-FR02-ESC51-VTJ-000346546
Infopack (dates are not updated): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p2qn87gm761o0k4uwccj0/IDC_MushroomsGrowers3_2025.pdf?rlkey=0ure37wk5kevtmavc98dpbm7n&st=twtdla3l&dl=0
🔗 Official Project Page
https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity/opportunity/51829_en
