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shane_genziuk

Cafes that give out their spent coffee grounds

14 years ago

I work with a volunteer group, Ground to Ground, which helps cafes and offices make better use of their spent coffee grounds for compost and fertilizer. To help with all the cafes that are getting involved, we decided to create a Google map to let you UCG lovers know where you can safely go to ask without getting the 'huh, he's crazy!', or, 'you want my rubbish?' look.

Most of the places are in Melbourne Australia for now, but if you could kindly let me know where you get yours, I will add it to the map to share with all. No point letting good grounds go to waste!

http://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&source=embed&msa=0amp;msid=216574444711012425266.00049b67f4615b8657abe&ll=-37.786182,144.959793&spn=0.194271,0.445976&z=12

Comments (17)

  • 14 years ago

    I am miles away from you[Kansas] but some people may not think of asking at these odd"places' I get mine from our local donut who also sells coffe etc from early A.m till they sell out the donuts.

  • 14 years ago

    I am miles away from you too.
    I am in Columbia, South Carolina, & there is not one, but TWO coffee processing Plant here.
    I get from only one plant(grind & whole bean,chaff too)& I am getting between 8,000 & 12,000 pounds per week. This, I will sheet compost as I have time.
    Thank you for your work.

  • 14 years ago

    do you pick it up or do they deliver?
    250 tons of java a year is a lot of joe.
    How much space do you have to "sheet compost it as I have time".
    I'd be happy with 1/100th of that
    congrats

  • 14 years ago

    sorry
    I forgot to mention the above was to jolj

  • 14 years ago

    No matter where you are guys. We have some cafes in the states that are taking part in this initiative, and most of the visitors to my site are from the US or Canada. If you have a cafe that you collect grounds from, regardless of where it is, let's add it to the map.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Ground to Ground website

  • 14 years ago

    darth weeder(cool user name).
    The company has went Green, so they will not put the CW in the land fill. No one is picking it up, so I generosity offered to let THEM pay to have it delivered to my 10 acre farm. It cost them $ 60.00 to deliver to me & $200.00 to put it in the land fill, plus they can not be green if it is in the land fill.
    Sorry, I am so far away, I would gladly give you all you needed for vermicomposting & a hot compost pile.
    Check out the thread "Coffee Chaff for compost".
    I am doing a new plot 40' X 200' with sheet composting, I will turn it under in the spring with some leaves I collected.
    Some nice people bag up their yard waste & put it on the curb. So I pick it up, I have not got anything that will not compost as of yet.

  • 14 years ago

    oh jolj, I can imagine the smell of 12,000 pounds of UCGs... and it makes me happy. :)

    Kim

  • 14 years ago

    Now that is a whole lot of coffee!

  • 14 years ago

    I'm just wondering. Is it possible to add too many coffee grounds to a compost pile. I just got 2 large bags of ucg's from Starbucks (about 1 gallon each) and added one of them to my pile when I turned it last weekend. My pile is not that big...approx 4x4x3. Held off on adding the second bag not wanting my compost to be too acidic. But I don't know for sure....should I add the other one.
    Don

  • 14 years ago

    Ladon - It is going to be more of a problem with airflow rather than it becoming too acidic. Your pH levels will even out during the composting process, even by using up to 25% of the total volume as coffee grounds.

    Be sure to mix the grounds in really well with the other ingredients, otherwise it just forms in clumps that remain even when the other materials have broken down. Plenty of brown ingredients to balance it out like leaves, straw, shredded paper, ETC.

    You might also find the link to my site on this and other UCG related subjects helpful.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Ground to Ground Primer

  • 14 years ago

    I have composted coffee waste without other ingredients. It gets yellow mold & insects in it. It will compost in my weaved plastic bags, with out turning in about 8-12 months.
    It will be 1/4 or less of the former size & weight. It is lite, like peat when dry & breaks in to clumps when hit with a shovel. You can turn it to mud by wetting it.
    It is best to mix it as Shane said, breaking up any clumps as you turn your pile. Mixing it with shredded leaves will help too.

  • 14 years ago

    Thanks to everyone that stopped by the site. The more people getting involved the better for all of us.

  • 14 years ago

    A cafe at my work has offered to give me grounds. What containers do you all usually have them put the grounds in? I'm thinking plastic bags might make extra work for them to get it in there. Wondering if there's any other good option besides carrying around a clunky bucket. Thanks!

  • 14 years ago

    That depends on one thing Roni. If they have one of those knock box cylinders that they put the coffee cakes directly into, then all they need is a plastic bag to put into that, and then when that is full, they tie it off and leave it for you.

    If they don't do it that way, they can just throw it into a plastic lined bin, and when the bag is full, tie it off and leave it for you.

    Most cafes will do it in one of the ways above.

    Please let me know if they want to go on the map - happy to add them.

  • 14 years ago

    Shane, I collect ~ 8 five-gallon buckets of UCG/tea and filters weekly from my local Shoney's restaurant here in South Boston, Virginia, hardly a dot on anyone's map. They could not be nicer to me and bend over backwards to help me, to the point of loading the heavy buckets into my car trunk. I'm 67. They don't know my age, but know I could use the help.

    Before that, I was collecting from Sheetz, a "family" owned business selling gas, sandwiches, donuts, and such. A new manager (young, clueless, and enamored by "power") came in, looked at the (cleaned) buckets awaiting coffee grounds and mandated "That's unprofessional. Stop doing that."

    Score: Shoney's Restaurnant ........... 100% cooperative
    Sheetz .................................. 100% ignorant

  • 14 years ago

    Yes sir, it is hard when they just don't want to know about it. I've had the same thing happen to me a few time and wonder when exactly our society started to see valuable organic material as just garbage.
    Only thing to do I guess is to keep at them!

  • 14 years ago

    Hi, plays in dirt, Can you get me a email for the head office of Sheetz?
    I promise to be polite & professional.
    I will ask why in a time when everyone, including oil companies are going Green, why they are not?
    And why they do not care, what would their customers think?