The idea
Last year, the UK sent 0.5M Tons of coffee to landfills, creating methane and destroying healthy bacteria in our soil.
We've got a better idea for all that coffee waste. We want to collect the grounds from our local independent cafes, dry them, bag them, and then deliver them to community gardens, allotments, and farms, where they can be used as super fertiliser.
How will it work?
- Independent cafes will put their used coffee grounds in the bags it originally came in
- We'll collect it from them for free and take it to our storage facility to dry it out, test it and then re-bag it
- We'll deliver it for free to community gardens, allotments and farms for them to use as fertiliser
Who will it benefit?
- Independent cafes won't have to pay to dispose of their waste coffee
- We will prevent 3000kg of coffee waste from going to landfill, and we'll capture 7000kg of carbon from being released into the environment
- We'll save community organisations money by providing free fertiliser
What we'll deliver
- We will prevent 3000 kg of coffee waste going to landfill
- We will capture 7000kg of carbon from being released
- We will create a drying system that provides safe coffee fertiliser
- We will collect, dry, bag and distribute coffee fertiliser for free to communities across the city region
- We will demonstrate the scalability of this project
- Work with local communities and coffee independents
Why it's a great idea
- Divert 3,000 kilos of waste away from landfill
- Prevent wet waste coffee damaging healthy soil
- Prevent 7000 kgs of carbon dioxide equivalent from being released into the atmosphere.
- Reduce costs for local independent cafes with their waste charges.
- Reduce landfill and transport costs for Merseyside Waste Authority
- Save community groups from spending money on fertilisers, which also creates a massive carbon footprint.
- Raise environmental awareness in the City Region to the benefits of natural carbon capture and how we can reduce waste and recycle more.
Steps to get it done
- buy equipment to create the drying facilities needed
- hire a part time member to collect and drop off coffee grounds
- begin collecting used coffee
- begin testing the quality of the dried coffee
- begin bagging and distributing used coffee to community groups
- communicate to other coffee indenpentents, community groups and growers
- measure carbon emission and report reduction impact
- celebate our achievements
We will be working with partners across the city region including Archbishop Beck and Kensington Field to help deliver this project, including independent coffee cafes that will help us collect their waste coffee using their coffee storage bags and drums.
Carbon Happy World will test the dried coffee, monitor the carbon stored to prevent it from being released.
Firefit Hub (Toxteth) will use this project as part of its education programme on the environmental impact of waste.
Torus Foundation will help promote the project to all their community groups, gardens and allotments.
We will reach out to other partners as the project develops.
