Sustainability In Coffee: 5 Ways to Reuse Coffee Grounds

With Ethics Week right around the corner, the MotMot team wants to share with you some small ways in which you can participate, as well as begin implementing a more sustainable lifestyle! 

As you may know, in business, the three aspects of sustainability include social, economic and environmental. Today, especially while working from home, we often find ourselves gathering more waste than normal. And we often are not educated enough on what steps should be taken to help minimize it. 

So, let’s talk about coffee, shall we?

Did you know that your coffee grounds are still functional after use? That’s right! Rather than throw out your coffee waste, check out these five innovative ways it can be reused:

1) Fertilize Your Garden

Coffee grounds make excellent fertilizers as they contain generous amounts of nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, and chromium - all of which are key minerals for plant growth. Additionally, coffee grounds may attract worms, which support healthy soil, and help absorb harmful heavy metals.

2) Compost It

Coffee grounds are classified as a green material, meaning it is rich in nitrogen and can make great additions to compost bins when balanced with carbon-rich brown material. The nitrogen within coffee grounds can help to stabilize pH level, in turn, aiding foods within your compost to break down more quickly and evenly. As a bonus, the coffee scent also helps with the smell. 

3) Coffee Exfoliant

Save yourself from buying a body/face scrub from the store and just use your leftover coffee grounds! Coffee grounds work as a natural exfoliant, as their coarse texture helps to remove dirt and dead cells from the skin without causing irritation. The caffeine in coffee grounds also has antioxidant properties that can help protect skin from sun damage. Check out this cute DIY tutorial to create your own coffee scrub.

4) Coffee-scented Candle 

If you love the smell of coffee, upcycle your coffee grounds by making a coffee-scented candle! Take a look at this article from Just Coffee Co-op to learn how!

5) "Coffee" Your Walk

Believe it or not coffee grounds help to melt ice quicker due to its acidity and can work as a great alternative to salt or sand, which help to make walkways less slippery on cold, snowy days. Coffee grounds are also a much more sustainable alternative to some de-icing products on the market, which can be harmful to the surrounding environment.