Ways You Can Recycle Coffee Grounds

If you are a coffee lover, you probably end up with a mountain of coffee grounds in the trash can every single day. Sound familiar? Don’t ever waste those precious coffee grounds again!

Did you know there is a wide range of coffee ground uses? Besides making you happy with coffee drinks, there is a huge variety of uses for coffee grounds. Read on and discover them all!

Prepare Those Coffee Grounds!

Coffee grounds can be used for a wide array of activities. You can pamper your body and hair, keep your kitchen and furniture in optimum conditions, make your garden thrive gloriously, and even make some handicrafts in your free time with them.

As coffee grounds are full of nutrients and have a great texture and aroma, there are endless uses for coffee grounds - so better prepare those coffee grounds for what’s next!

Grab your leftover coffee grounds and spread them on a baking sheet first. You need them to be dried out for the coffee grounds uses we are about to teach you. Then find a nice glass or airtight container and store them in a cool and dry place.

Ready now? Let’s see the different uses for coffee grounds!

Kitchen Uses for Coffee Grounds

It is always good to have coffee grounds in the kitchen because their texture and aroma can help you with the most tedious household chores related to cooking and food storage. Prepare to be amazed by their multiple abilities!

Say Goodbye to Odors in Your Hands!

You know that feeling when you are peeling or chopping smelly vegetables like garlic and onions, and their odor permeates your hands? But did you also know that situation could be reversed with coffee grounds?

Yes, it’s true! After rinsing your hands, you can grab one teaspoon of coffee grounds and rub them in your hands. Then proceed to wash your hands normally with water and soap, and voilà! Now you have odorless hands.

Deodorize Your Fridge

Sometimes we open the fridge and a stinging smell of everything that is inside it floods out to us. That sensation is not that pleasant, right? And what is worse, that smell can affect the flavor of the foods we have inside the fridge too. So, what to do?

One of the most famed uses for coffee grounds is odor absorption. Just as you can rub coffee grounds in your hands to remove strong smells, you can leave them inside the fridge and they will absorb unpleasant odors from the ambiance, but in a different way.

Fill a container with a plastic lid with coffee grounds and pierce a few holes on the lid. The nitrogen that the coffee contains will react with the sulfur of the nasty odors in the fridge, and these will be pulled out and trapped in the coffee grounds.

To make sure this method is still working properly, replace the grounds once per month.

Clean Those Pans Easily

After cooking particular types of food or using certain cooking methods, it is common that caked-on food particles and grease can get stuck to your cooking pans. Sometimes it is really hard to remove them just using dish detergent and a sponge.

Among the uses for coffee grounds, their scouring ability is one of the most acclaimed. The sandy texture of the coffee grounds makes them perfect for scrubbing off those annoying food scraps and grease to clean out your kitchenware, like cooking pans.

Garden Coffee Grounds Uses

You might already have heard about the various uses of coffee grounds for gardening. The nutrients that the coffee contains are very helpful to fertilize soils and repel pests.

Find out how many uses for coffee grounds you can take advantage of to help your beloved plants grow happily!

Speed Up Your Compost

One of the most common things you try to do as a good gardener is to make your own compost. You throw vegetables, egg shells, dry leaves, and fruit peelings into the soil, and some avid gardeners even introduce earthworms to live there – but did you know you can throw wet coffee grounds in too?

There are multiple uses for coffee grounds in gardening because they provide important nutrients to the soil. And again, the nitrogen in the coffee is a key factor in this case as it will boost the breakdown process of the plant matter.

Plus, the earthworms of the compost will simply love the acidic quality of the coffee grounds. Although some bugs can find the coffee aroma repelling, earthworms will be glad if you add some coffee grounds to the compost mix, and they will speed up the decomposition process.

To ensure you are making the most of the coffee grounds for compost, use wet and warm grounds right out of your preferred coffee brewing device, rather than the dried grounds mentioned above. Aim for coarse coffee grounds too to get the soil well-aerated when mixing.

Check Out - 5 Tips To Brew Better Coffee At Home

Repel Plants Pests

Unlike earthworms, most of the bugs that are a threat to your plants run away from coffee grounds. Slugs, some kinds of insects, and snails tend to avoid the acidic quality of coffee, so sprinkling its grounds around your plants will keep them away.

You will be surprised by the effectiveness of coffee grounds uses for repelling pests. Even some rabbits and cats can wriggle away from the strong aroma of coffee grounds.

Make Low-Cost Liquid Fertilizer

This is one of the uses for coffee grounds that is not that well known, but that you will be glad someone has told you about.

Take two cups of coffee grounds and put them in a 20 liters bucket filled with water at the top. Leave the mix to settle overnight, or at least 6 hours.

Use this nutritive mixture full of nitrogen as a liquid fertilizer and water your plants with it. The varieties of plants that enjoy the acidic quality of the coffee grounds will surely thank you for this!

Cleaning Coffee Grounds Uses

What tends to bother you the most when you are doing some cleaning work? Realizing there are some scratches on your beloved wooden furniture? The dust lifting up all over the place and making you sneeze? Is your closet smelling funny?

Fret no more about those problems with the following cleaning uses for coffee grounds. Take note!

Mask Scratches on Wooden Furniture

Staining is another of the most acclaimed coffee grounds’ uses. Now you will learn how to prepare and use a mix for hiding scratches on wood with coffee grounds. This mixture works better in dark-colored wood furniture.

Mix one tablespoon of coffee grounds with one tablespoon of olive oil and let blend rest for nearly one hour. This allows the tannins of the coffee to leach into the olive oil.

If you want to make a thinner paint, add some water to the mixture to dilute it. On the other hand, if you are painting a very dark wood, use fresh coffee grounds right out of the coffee brewer to obtain a darker color.

When the mix is ready, take a cotton swab and apply it to the scratches you want to hide. Buff over the scratches with a dry and soft cloth like the ones made from microfiber and repeat as needed. Remove the dye after one hour if you want it to look more natural.

Avoid Dust to Lift Up

If you want to clean out dusty spaces like corners, the floor under the beds, or fireplaces, coffee grounds can be your best allies for this duty.

This is one of the most surprising and easiest coffee ground uses. Simply spread some coffee grounds across the dusty surface you want to clean, and they will moisturize the zone. This way, the dust will remain down when you sweep and scoop everything up.

Deodorize Closed Spaces

Closed spaces like drawers and closets can smell bad easily because of the dust and the humidity. In the kitchen uses for coffee grounds, you have already learned how coffee grounds can freshen up the fridge. Now is the time for your clothes to smell good.

Make some sachet bags – or buy them – and fill them with coffee grounds. Place these sachet bags around your closet and inside the drawers and let the coffee nitrogen absorb unpleasant odors from these ambiances too.

Also Read - 3 Easy Steps To Find Your Perfect Coffee Grind Size

Arts & Crafts Uses for Coffee Grounds

Enough of housekeeping chores. It is time to experiment with the artistic side of the coffee grounds’ uses!

Read on and learn how to produce natural dyes and make play clay with coffee grounds to boost your creativity now.

Make Natural Dyes

Is there a dress you want to change? Is the Easter season coming up and you would like to paint some eggs? Would you like to learn how to paint watercolor scenes? If your answer is “yes!” to any of these questions, you are at the right place.

One of the funniest uses for coffee grounds is to create a natural dye with it. The tannins of the coffee are able to produce a charming vintage-looking brown tint that you will love for staining fabrics and painting different surfaces.

There are two ways you can dye with coffee. The first consists of mixing coffee grounds with boiling water and letting the blend rest for a while. Then strain the mixture and use the resulting liquid for the dye bath. This method works better for large objects and clothes.

The other process is made directly by rubbing the coffee grounds over the surface to paint. Use damp coffee grounds for a darker color and very wet grounds for a lighter shade of brown. Let the grounds dry out over the surface and then brush them off. This manner works for fabrics too but is especially good for painting small parts of objects like Easter eggs or canvas.

Produce Play Clay at Home

Have you imagined you will end up making play clay when you started to read this blog?

Grab 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 cup of boiling water, 1 cup of salt, ½ cup of coffee grounds, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar. Mix well all the ingredients and let the clay sit for nearly an hour. If you want a darker color, add more coffee.

Knead the clay well and store it in a tightly covered recipient. Now you have warm brown colored play clay to create any sculpture you want!

Beauty Uses for Coffee Grounds

Time to take care of yourself! You have already worried too much about making your home shine and helping your garden thrive. Now is time to take advantage of the uses for coffee grounds to pamper yourself.

Exfoliate Your Skin!

This is one of the coffee grounds uses that we love the most. The sandy texture of the coffee grounds is perfect for scrubbing away rough skin, eliminating dead cells, and cleaning out clogged pores.

Also, caffeine helps skin brighten. Are these enough reasons to try out the coffee grounds uses in your beauty routines?

To make this coffee scrub, mix one and a half cups of coarse sea salt, one cup of coffee grounds, and one cup of coconut oil. As you already know, sea salt and coffee are good exfoliants, and coconut oil is to moisturize your skin in order to not dry it out too much.

Scent Your Hands

Do you remember when we explained one of the coffee grounds’ uses for removing odors from your hands when cooking? Well, you can use coffee grounds the same way, to add a touch of coffee aroma whenever you want to.

Make Your Hair Shine

If you have dark-colored hair – unless you have lighter hair and want to dye it - you can try out the coffee grounds uses for hair care. The coffee grounds will help take away dirt from your scalp and the acidic quality of the coffee will help soften your hair.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of these coffee grounds' uses? How many have you heard about before reading this uses for coffee grounds guide? Or more importantly, which ones are you going to implement now?

By turning used coffee grounds into compost, fertilizers, or natural cleaners, you can reduce your ecological footprint and support the circular economy. Incorporating coffee ground recycling initiatives in your coffee store or cafe can also resonate with environmentally conscious customers, fostering a sense of community and responsibility.

As a coffee subscription service or coffee business, our wholesale coffee options provide you with access to premium beans while also allowing you to support sustainability efforts. By encouraging your customers to recycle their coffee grounds, you can collectively make a positive impact on the planet and the coffee industry.