Coffee Grounds: Not Just for Making Coffee

400 million cups of coffee. That’s how much Americans consume on a daily basis. There’s no doubt America loves its coffee— as does the rest of the world. In Europe, they consume almost twice as much: 725 million cups a day. That’s a lot of coffee. Not only does all that coffee find its way into so many people’s mornings, but all those coffee grounds find their way into so many garbage receptacles world-wide.

Imagine if someone could find another use for all those coffee grounds; give them new life and new use, rather than simply taking up space in landfills. Well, they have. In fact, there have been multiple uses discovered to find new uses for the billions of tons of grounds that consumers throw away every year. Coffee grounds have been in use as fertilizer for a long time, but now scientists are finding new, innovative uses for them.

Coffee Grounds for Roads

In Melbourne, scientists have discovered that old coffee grounds could be mixed with slag (a waste product from steel manufacturing) and formed into cylindrical blocks. These blocks could be laid as foundation and cement or other road surface materials poured atop for the making of roads.

Coffee Grounds as Fuel

Coffee Grounds can be used as fuel for any wood or coal burning devices; and reportedly at half the cost. Part of the process includes removing the oils from the grounds so that the fuel doesn’t smell like coffee when it’s burned. Though for coffee lovers, that step may be entirely unnecessary.

Clothes Made of Coffee Grounds

A Taiwanese company has discovered a way to make fabric out of coffee grounds. It’s mixed with polyester to make a type of yarn, which is used to make a fabric. The fabric is UV ray resistant and fast-drying, which is ideal for waterproofing.