Audrey Speyer

Speyer is a designer and researcher specializing in projects at the intersection of design, science, and environmental innovation. During her MA in Material Futures (UK), she developed PuriFungi, a bioremediation system using fungi to break down pollutants in soil—working in collaboration with UK and French research institutions including Kew Gardens and the CNRS.

She applied this technique to cigarette butts, creating a patented process that transforms toxic waste into a clean biopolymer. This led to the creation of myco-ashtrays, which won the DEMO Interreg European Prize in 2019. Her work has been featured in severla books such as 75 Designers for a Sustainable World by Geneviève Gallot (Editions de La Martinière), Design and Science by Leslie Atzmon (Editions Bloomsbury Visual Arts) and on the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform.

In 2019, she founded PuriFungi, implementing collection and recycling systems across Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Her recycling systems have been implanted at festivals, in municipalities, and by private companies, showcasing a circular, nature-based solution to urban waste.