Published May 8, 2008
by dbazely
While on a coffee break from doing field work in London, Ontario, I was amazed to discover Starbucks' innovative programme in which they make their used coffee grounds available for people to put on their gardens. This is local resident and teacher, Trish Robertson, who told me that she really does use the grounds in her condo planters on a regular basis! While we don't see this in Toronto, presumably because municipal composting is available (I will be checking into this), in places like London, this programme must be diverting huge amounts of beans from landfill. I'd love to know the numbers on this and where all those other coffee grounds from other coffee shops are ending up. (Hello students - this would be a great research project...).
What's more, Starbucks even has a World Water Day link on their website. And, their business cards are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled material. Okay, okay, now I am beginning to feel bludgeoned by their sustainability initiatives. I take my hat off to them for their innovative leadership in both upstream and downstream coffee operations (I learned that term from my studies on oil and gas pipelines). I AM going to ask them more about the tons of coffee grounds that they need to dispose of at the end of each day. Many thanks to Michael and Lena at the Starbucks for their patience and enthusiasm in answering my questions.
Dawn Bazely
Posted in: Blogs | IRIS Director Blog | Shopping the Talk
Yes, I really do use the coffee grounds in my urban container garden! They are fantastic! Saves me tons on expensive kits to test the ph levels in my garden, I just use the coffee grounds and let nature run its natural course.
It was great to run into you at Starbuck’s. My Mom is still chuckling!
trish
I write extensively about coffee grounds and it is great to run into stories such as these that are really timeless in the message they spread.
Keep up the great work