A Guide to Reusing Your Coffee Grounds.
Thoughts
Gabriel Robinson
06 September 2021
Each year, the UK produces up to 500,000 tonnes of coffee waste. This waste is often sent to landfill, producing 1.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. It couldn’t be clearer how necessary it is to divert as much of this waste from landfill as possible.
For a while now, we’ve been working on a way to extract a versatile coffee oil from used grounds. But that’s only one way that coffee grounds can be reused! In fact, you don’t even need to be a chemist to get the most out of your roast. Here are a number of things you can do with coffee grounds to divert them from landfill.
1. Make a coffee face scrub
One of the many great things about coffee is that it’s coarse. This makes it an excellent exfoliator. And it couldn’t be easier to make your own.
Simply gather up some of your used coffee grounds, mix them with water or coconut oil, and apply the mixture onto your face or body. Your skin will thank you for it, believe me!
2. Use it as fertiliser
Coffee grounds aren’t just great because of their physical qualities. They’re also host to a large amount of nutrients – many of which can enrich and improve your soil.
Additionally, coffee grounds also attract worms – which do wonders for compost!
All you need to do is sprinkle some used coffee grounds into your soil or on your compost heap. You can also use diluted leftover coffee, too!
3. Neutralise odours
Got a fridge or a cupboard with a bad smell you can’t seem to get rid of? I bet you never thought coffee might be the answer! Coffee grounds actually contain nitrogen, which can help to absorb and combat foul odours.
There are a number of ways to do this. One is to fill a small bowl with used coffee grounds and place it in that smelly place – over time, it should neutralise any odours.
You can also use coffee grounds as natural air fresheners by pouring them into old socks and placing them around the house.
Finally, a great place to leave coffee grounds is near the sink. You can use them as a hand scrub after cooking to make your hands smell fresh if you can’t get the smell of garlic or onions out!
4. Repel bugs and pests
Especially during the summer, it can be hard to keep track of how many insects you have coming into your house. Some people often invest in bug spray or traps, yet what many people don’t know is that coffee grounds can do the same thing as them – for free!
As coffee grounds contain a variety of acids and aromas, this can be off-putting to a lot of bugs. Simply sprinkle used coffee grounds in problem areas to prevent pests like slugs, ants, and flies from entering your house! You can do the same thing in your garden too if you have pest problems.
5. Clean your hair
For those of us who use products in our hair, it can be hard to get it all out in the shower. One genius solution for this is to add coffee grounds into your hair care routine – simply add some in when you’re washing your hair and it should strip your hair of all the product build-up!
Coffee grounds can also be used as a scalp exfoliator, removing any buildup or dead skin cells from underneath your hair. Some studies have even shown that coffee grounds can stimulate hair growth!
And there you have it – if you thought that all you could do with your coffee grounds after using them is throw them in the bin, think again. And if you have any other uses for grounds that you think we should know about, let us know on our social channels!
Do you know any other ways to reuse your coffee grounds? Let us know!
