11 reuse ideas for coffee grounds
whitney Kakos, cafedirects impact and sustainability manager
Whitney Kakos, Cafédirect’s Impact and Sustainability manager has put together some fantastic reuse ideas for your coffee grounds. She says “When you’ve finished your coffee, don’t throw away the grounds without trying some of these eco friendly reuse ideas first!”
Whitney is responsible for developing and implementing a framework to assess and report the economic, social and environmental impact of the business model. She has also developed the company’s first comprehensive environmental strategy and is charged with integrating it across the business. Her role includes supporting projects like AdapCC, Cafédirect’s three-year public-private partnership with GTZ to assist smallholder coffee and tea farmers in adapting to climate change.
Eco exfoliant
Used coffee grounds are a great natural exfoliant for the skin! Simply apply, massage onto the skin and rinse.
Because you’re worth it
Who’d have thought it? Coffee actually makes a great hair rinse! If you have darker hair, use leftover coffee as a final hair rinse to add super shine.
Slugs and snails
Used coffee grounds can you help keep bugs at bay by acting as a repellent for snails and slugs.
Compost
Used coffee grounds put nutrients back in to the soil, which means they’re a great ingredient for your compost pile. They enhance the acidity of your soil while acting as a natural fertiliser.
Cat be gone!
Tired of the local cat using your lovely flower bed as a litter tray? A healthy scattering of used coffee grounds and orange peels around the base of your prize begonias will keep even the most persistent moggie away.
Odour control
Freshen up your home the eco-friendly way; place a bowl of used coffee grounds in the freezer to remove unwanted odours.
Neutralise nasty niffs
Try this hand cleanser for the eco-conscious cook: Simply rubbing old coffee grounds on your hands is a great way to get rid of smells from chopping or cutting up pungent foods.
Furniture care
Now you see it…now you don’t - remove small scratches on furniture with wet coffee grounds.
Fairtrade funghi
Rich in nutrients, old coffee grounds make the perfect soil in which to grow your own mushrooms.
Send them marching
Pest control the natural way; ants apparently hate coffee and won’t cross a line of coffee grounds.
Indoor gardening
Add some old coffee grounds to your houseplants; most will love the boost of acidity.
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Brilliant tips, thank you! I had no idea about some of these but will definitely be employing these ideas.
These are very handy tips as we use a lot of ground coffee and never sure what to do with them afterwards.
Thank you
That’s so weird, I was just wondering what to do with coffee grinds and BAM, here’s 11 different things! Amazing!
Hi, Have been using coffee grounds for over a year now to add to my compost bin to enrich the “mix”. I get a weekly amount from my local “greasy spoon” cafe, who save their grounds for me! It improves my compost AND reduses the amount they throw away, so a win-win situation.
First used this idea when my sister (a Starbucks addict) told me that they (Starbucks) give away their groundshowever I never witnessed this when I went in to their coffee shops with her!
I sometimes pick up my grounds from Starbucks, but you have to ask for them and they then package them up in an old coffee bag, per request. They have indeed been great for preventing slugs and snails
Great tips! I have been composting them for years. I never heard of using them to shine up your hair. Guess what I will be doing tomorrow? lol
Last summer I hit up my local Starbucks and grabbed a ton of coffee grounds. I threw it all in my garden and tilled away. What a difference it truly did make. I also use them to sprinkle in my bark by the front door. My cat thinks its her cat box. I have yet to see her back.
I will be passing along your info, thanks for the inspiration!
I love these tips too - thanks to Whitney for putting them together for us., H0gg1t; I think it’s great that you are saving stuff from landfill by collecting them from your local cafe and surviving, I can’t wait to hear how your hair turns out. I’m inspired to hear about the difference it made to your soil. We could really use some help on ours, but it’s already very acidic, so I’m a bit concerned about adding any more …
That is a really interesting list. I’ll definitely try some of those - cat and slug repellant being the foremost. One of my new year’s resolutions is to grow more veggies, and slug patrol is a chore. And the neighbours have 11 cats!
This is great! Neighborhood cats are taking over and peeing on my outside furniture. Disgusting. Any idea how to get cat pee out of a stroller? On using coffee in veggie gardens, I heard that plants become addicted and wither if you stop. Any experience with this, anyone?
@Devon eco holidays at Wheatland Farm: 11 cats is quite something to contend with. Although I love my feline friends, there are certain places I prefer them to do their business, and on my salad patch is not one of them!
@Naomi Sandoval: Hi Naomi; I don’t have experience of either of these scenarios I’m afraid
But for getting rid of odours I tend to favour bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and fresh air.
Mrs G,
I found this http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/soil/2002015354019975.html which says the used grounds are actually pretty much neutral. HTH. I can’t find anything on plant caffeine addiction :0)
I compost my ground coffee, but I did read somewhere Cindy Crawford was/is supposed to have used it as an exfoliant and to help against cellulite. I think they put caffeine in expensive anti-cellulite creams. Anyway, never tried it and no idea if it works or even if it’s true- any volunteers?!
Another use I read years ago is that if you make sure they’re very dry you can stuff pincushions with the used grounds and your pins will never rust….
@Hazel: Hi Hazel, thanks for the resource. It’s interesting to see what people have to say on the subject. Ah yes, I remember the anti cellulite claims now you have mentioned it - well it has to be worth a go, right?! LOL!
Interesting about the pincushions - I bet they smell wonderful too!
Tea bags are also great for composting. I compost my ground coffee and it works great!
I know cats normally hate the smell of citrus, but I’m not so sure they dislike coffee. I often catch my cat licking out coffee cups I’ve left on the table (I probably shouldn’t say that, it makes it sound like I live in a right mess - I really don’t!).
I wonder if the perceived plant addiction was in fact too much nitrogen from coffee grinds, which in my experience when provided alone without other plant nutrients causes rapid, but flimsy growth which tends to wilt quickly. Like all good things, you can have too much of it.
I’ll definitely try it as an exfoliator. Most these products come in non-recyclable tubes, and with a few exceptions contain very fine plastic exfoliating beads which are now being associated with marine pollution as they’re small enough to pass through sewage treatment plants unhindered (assuming you’re not still in an area where sewage still goes straight out to sea), and they never degrade. It seems that fish are eating the plastic particles on purpose because they mistake them for food.
@FredNytters: Thanks Fred! We use tea bags for composting too.
@Ben: Your comment made me laugh about the cats. I have to confess when I first moved out of home my cats were invited to clean my plates after use. I was young and naive then
The amount of plastic in the ocean is very concerning for us, so let us know how you find the coffee - I’m an oats and yogurt gal myself 
@Ben:
I agree, the alleycats at my place don’t care what I sprinkle on the dirt, they crap all over the place. I wish that coffee repelled them. I’ve also tried broken plastic forks that I’ve collected over time, as well as pieces of old chainlink fence buried in the soil. I’ve just come to accept that my yard is where cats will do their thing.
Nonetheless, my worms love me for feeding them coffee grinds every morning, i think it’s what keeps them in my compost pile.
tyler
http://www.weaverwastesolutions.com
@Tyler: Hi Tyler, welcome to the site. Broken plastic forks - You’re rotten LOL!
Thanks for this advice.
How about chicken bones (all meat bones for that matter) - I put them in the bin normally - is there another use. I do mean cooked meat bones.