Brewing Sustainability: Repurposing Coffee Waste for a Greener Future
Currently, coffee, the world’s second-largest beverage, is producing 18 million tons of coffee waste globally, releasing 2.3 billion tons of methane (CH4) during decomposition, which has 25 times the greenhouse gas effect of carbon dioxide (May & Folkerts, 2021, p.29).
Beyond mere waste, spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are rich in organic and inorganic compounds, offering potential as valuable byproducts across various industrial sectors such as agriculture (e.g. bio-compost), cosmetics (e.g. soap, scrub, facial cream, shampoo, etc.), fabric and textile, furniture (Kovalcik et al., 2018, p.114), bio-plastic packaging, biofuels (May & Folkerts, 2021, p.29), and construction materials (e.g. eco-bricks, subgrade fillers, thermal insulators, clay materials, precast concrete panels, mortar production) (Saberian et al., 2021, pp.10-12).
Sadly, a coffee-loving country like Finland has no startup dedicated to upcycling this waste, except for some scientific studies on a lab scale.
With a strong passion for sustainability, Preloved Coffee Oy was founded to transform SCGs into value, giving new life to a material previously considered waste, contributing to a circular economy, and mitigating climate change. We have a diverse team with expertise in management, marketing, science, and sustainability. Our mission is to create impactful and sustainable change for the world by continuously innovating valuable products from SCGs.
To accelerate our product development process, Preloved Coffee Oy, the first Finnish startup dedicated to recycling SCGs into valuable biomaterials, invites Finnish scientists to join us in developing more sustainable materials from SCGs to reduce the environmental impact of the construction industry. If you’re interested, please contact us using the information provided below. Welcome to our green movement!
Company information:
Website: www.prelovedcoffee.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prelovedcoffee/
Email: info@prelovedcoffee.com
Phone: +358451286664
Preloved Coffee oy’s first MVPs: coffee oil and coffee candles
Reference
May, G., & Folkerts, J. (2021). Breaking new grounds for coffee, Institution of Food Science and Technology, Vol 35 (2), 28-31
Kovalcik, A., Obruca, S., & Marova, I. (2018). Valorization of spent coffee grounds: A review. Food and Bioproducts Processing, 110, 104-119.
Saberian, M., Li, J., Donnoli, A., Bonderenko, E., Oliva, P., Gill, B., … & Siddique, R. (2021). Recycling of spent coffee grounds in construction materials: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 289, 1-16.