Recycling Coffee Grounds

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Large volumes of used coffee grounds, which were once just thrown away, are now being used as heating fuel for energy-poor families. Let’s find out more.

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Streets in Korea are literally dotted with numerous coffee shops. With a spike in coffee consumption, the amount of used coffee grounds produced by cafes in a downtown city exceeds 100-thousand tons a year. Just the daily amount is enormous and cafes struggle to deal with the waste.

[Soundbite] Lee Eun-jik(Cafe Employee) : "We throw the grounds away with the regular garbage. It's also tough for garbage collectors as the grounds are so heavy."

The fees for garbage bags to throw away the coffee grounds amounts to 1.9 million dollars each year. To address this situation, local authorities and environment groups have come up with an idea. For three months, they gathered 36 tons of grounds from 50 coffee shops. Coffee grounds mixed with sawdust and compressed under high temperature and high pressure transform into wonderful heating fuel. Along with pellet heaters, coffee fuel produced this way has been donated to 20 welfare centers in neighborhoods of energy-destitute families. Coffee fuel produces nearly no toxic gas. It also reduces heating bills by some 40 percent compared to heaters using petroleum.

[Soundbite] Yoon Tae-hwa(Yeongdeungpo Self-Sufficiency Center, Seoul) : "It's really warm. I fueled the heater since morning and it's gotten so warm. I'm even sweating."

Coffee grounds turned into eco-friendly fuel are precious gifts to those in need who want to enjoy a warm winter.