7 Surprising Uses For Coffee Grounds
You’ve made your delicious cup of morning coffee, but now you have leftover grounds. Do you simply throw them in the bin?
Before you dispose of your used coffee grounds, think of all the possibilities! You can save them and repurpose them in your home or donate them to a company that uses them in other ways.
This is a guest article by Marko Lazarevic, founder of Craft Coffee Spot
We searched for the best ways to reuse coffee grounds and found seven items that we think are the best. These are ways to sustainably use coffee grounds and some uses may surprise you!
Furniture made from used coffee grounds
One incredibly inventive way of reusing coffee grounds is making them into furniture. Re-Worked is a non-profit working to reduce waste while making furniture.
The coffee grounds combine with other materials like used plastic and ash wood. It makes durable, waterproof furniture items like stools and chairs.
The company works with Greencup to source its coffee grounds. These items are made of about 60% recycled materials.
Though you cannot complete this type of DIY at home, it is worth it to support a business that is interested in recycling.
Coffee Cups
This is a super interesting way to repurpose coffee grounds. Though this is probably not something you can do at home, there is a company trying to make a sustainable material from old coffee grounds.
Kaffeeform makes classic coffee cups and portable coffee cups with a lid. Old coffee and beechwood scraps are recycled into these coffee cups.
They use bio-based polymers, which act like plastic. They are far more biodegradable and environmentally friendly. There’s something to be said for this type of ingenuity. It benefits the environment and ourselves.
The plant-based materials are also better for us! Since we won’t be ingesting the chemicals that are traditionally used in the production of cups like these, we benefit from more natural materials in our drinkware.
Uses for coffee grounds: make Body Scrubs
Natural body scrubs are always popular on the beauty market. There are plenty of recipes online that will show you how to make your body scrub or face mask out of household items.
Some of these recipes include coffee scrubs which are great for skin exfoliation. Companies like Frank Body have coffee scrubs in their line of products that you can buy in-store and online.
The coffee exfoliates your skin. It also smooths out your skin since you need to mix the grounds with oil. The size of the grounds does not matter, but you may find the scrub to be easier on your skin if the coffee grounds are small.
Cleaning Products – another use for coffee grounds
Because coffee is very acidic, it works to remove odors very well. You can simply sit a cup of used grounds inside your fridge to keep odors at bay!
Adding coffee grounds to a warm, soapy water mixture is a great way to clean your oven or grill. It will help remove stains with its acidic and abrasive nature.
Another good cleaning use is using the grounds to clean your pots and pans. Get the buildup off of your cooking appliances with the grounds in one easy go. Be sure to test out a spot on the pan just in case it is too abrasive.
Though there are not many products on the market right now for you to purchase, you can make these solutions on your own fairly easily. There are many tutorials online on how to achieve this!
Printer Ink made from used coffee grounds
Printer ink is generally produced from a combination of chemicals. However, there are some innovative ideas on the horizon on how to make this daily activity more sustainable.
The way this printer works is innovative in itself. The RITI printer is sleek and small. The ink cartridge is where the coffee is placed. Then you move the cartridge, which grinds the coffee even further and produces ink!
Though it does require a bit of manual labor, it is worth it if you are trying to minimize your footprint. Plus, a fragrant coffee smell emanates from the machine!
Use old coffee grounds as a fertilizer
Coffee grounds are great as an additional ingredient to fertilizer because they contain nitrogen, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and other chemical compounds that plants need to grow.
The best way to fertilize plants with coffee grounds is to add them as part of the green material for your compost bin. Put the used coffee grounds in the mix, and sometimes the coffee filter can be part of the compost as well. There are many recipes and concoctions online for you to use.
You can also sprinkle the grounds on the ground around your garden to ward off small animals from intruding in your garden! Two uses in one!
Use old coffee grounds as a Clothing Dye
Coffee has been used as a natural dyeing agent for centuries. In the present day, there are many DIYs online for you to learn how to complete this process with your old coffee grounds.
However, if you prefer to support a small business, many creators on Etsy are reusing coffee grounds to tie-dye and dye clothing!
Tie-dying is a great option for this as well! Steep coffee grounds to make the rich, brown color, then dip your clothing in the water and let it soak. Let it dry and rinse in cold water until it runs clear.
This is a fun and eco-friendly way to recycle coffee grounds, all while making a unique piece!
Final Thoughts
We think these are some ingenious options to be more sustainable with coffee grounds. Finding healthy alternatives through deep thought and creativity is how we will bring ourselves to a more sustainable future.
Most of these items are available for purchase online. The ones that aren’t can be made at home for a fun, eco-friendly DIY project.
Keep looking around the world to find more ways to reuse coffee grounds in your everyday life. Anything we can do to further our sustainability efforts is a win for us and a win for the planet.
This is a guest article by Marko Lazarevic, founder of Craft Coffee Spot
Marko Lazarevic is the founder of Craft Coffee Spot. He has been drinking coffee his adult life and stumbled upon a Kalita Wave during his first job, which changed his (coffee-drinking) life. Since then, he has learned about different coffee brewing methods and wants to share this knowledge with others. His favourite brewing device is a French press.
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