Its easy to prepare a full bodied cup of zero waste coffee with a french press, but how can we take our efforts a step further? What can we do about the remaining coffee grounds?
As it turns out, there's a lot you can do with them!
1. Clean Your Garbage Disposal
If you're living in the dorms this option is probably out the window. However, I'd keep this one tucked away in the back of your mind! Soon you too will be inhabiting a shitty apartment with a garbage disposal as durable as a pair of toothpicks.
Take a tablespoon of the coffee grounds and mix it with hot water. Pour the mixture down the drain, run the disposal, and rinse. Since coffee grounds are fairly course, they'll easily scrub away at leftover food particles.
2. Treat Yo Plants
Coffee grounds are awesome for plants! That is, if they've been composted. Many people make the mistake of adding their freshly used grounds to their gardens in the hopes that it will act as a natural nitrogen-fertilizer.
According Oregon State, coffee grounds have a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of 20 to 1. Non-composted grounds can lead to poor germination and stunted growth in plants. So, if you're looking to help your plants out, make sure you've allowed your grounds to compost.
When kept at around 25% volume, coffee grounds have the added benefit of killing off the seeds from weeds and vegetables that have made their way to your compost. This is because they help sustain temperatures of 150 degrees for upwards of two weeks.
In about three to six months, the contents should be fully composted and ready for use!
3. Deodorize Trash
Take a sock (the thinner the better, but no holes!) or some of your mother's nylons. Fill them with your dried coffee grounds and tie a knot at the top.
Fasten the coffee filled sock to the top of your waste bin. This can be done with string or even a safety-pin!
Pro-tip: To my fellow cat owners, if you don't empty your litter waste bin daily, consider using one of these to help eliminate odors!
4. Replace Your Baking Soda
Recently bought fish? Don't clean your fridge as often as you should? That doesn't mean you have to live with unpleasant odors!
Rather than spending money on a brand new box of baking soda, consider using your old coffee grounds!
Take your dried coffee grounds and place them in a mason jar (or whatever container you happen to have on hand). Cover the jar with an old piece of newspaper or scratch paper and fasten with a rubber band. Poke holes in the paper to allow for better absorption.
5. Exfoliate Your Skin
Lotion, soap, dry-shampoo, exfoliators... the amount of beauty products on the market is extensive (and expensive). While plastic micro-beads might be a thing of the past, thanks Obama, that doesn't mean all our work is done.
Since there is such a wide variation in packaging for makeup and other cosmetic products, it is really difficult to recycle them. Thankfully, some companies have started taking action. For example, you can turn in your cosmetic containers from any brand at every Origins store or counter (find one near you).
However, recycling is not always the answer. It's important to cut waste at the source. Rather than buying a product with packaging, consider turning to your old coffee grounds for a great smelling exfoliator!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of dried coffee grounds
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 1/4 cup of almond or coconut oil
- 1 tsp of cinnamon
Once you've thoroughly mixed your ingredients, you're ready for scrubbing! Use caution if rinsing in the shower, as oil can clog your drains. Consider rinsing outside or using a drain stopper in your tub.
6. Natural Clothing Dye
Your white clothing not so white anymore? Embrace it!
White clothing attracts stains like nobody's business. So why spend your money on harsh chemicals and bleach that you'll have to use over and over until your clothes are falling apart?
Take a cup of your used coffee grounds and steep them in boiling water for ten minutes. Your mixture should be done after the water takes on a brownish color. After you've strained the mixture you've got a eco-friendly and sustainably made dye! Submerge your not-so-white whites and voila!
Pro-tip: This same mixture can be used for arts and crafts, to give paper a vintage look.
7. Stain Scratched Furniture
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| Image by Steven Depolo |
All of the furniture that I own is from my childhood, a hand-me-down, or something I purchased secondhand. That being said they're covered with scratches.
Thankfully, coffee makes a decent stain and that this project is pretty straight forward.
Take your coffee grounds and add enough water to make a paste. Apply the paste the offending scratch with either your finger or a cotton swab. Let the paste sit for ten minutes (or longer on really dark woods). Using a clean cloth, buff the table.
Reapply if necessary.
Decided to do one of our projects? Here's how to dry out your coffee grounds
Coffee grounds have a tendency to compact after they've been used. This can make it difficult for the grounds to dry out and makes a great environment for mold growth.
If you plan on composting your coffee grounds, this isn't a huge concern as it will eventually be consumed through the composting process. In fact, if you plan on composting your grounds, I wouldn't bother drying them out.
Taking your used coffee grounds place them in a sieve.
That's this thing.
Some zero wasters have suggested the use of an old window screen.
While this may save you some money and the trouble of tracking down a sieve, window screens in dormitories and apartment complexes are rarely cleaned and are probably not the most sanitary of options.
Press the coffee grounds through the strainer or screen and onto a tray beneath. If you're having trouble pressing the grounds through, try making small circular motions. This will help the grounds pass through more easily.
Leave the tray out in direct sunlight to dry. Depending on the weather and how many grounds you have, this can take one to two days.
Store in a container of your choice. Once dried, coffee grounds can be stored for years!
How you can help your community
If you have extra time on your hands or the capacity to handle more grounds than you use, visit a local coffee shop and ask them what they do with their used grounds. Unless you live in the Pacific Northwest or California's "Bay Area" its unlikely that your coffee shop is doing anything more than throwing them away.
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