Used coffee grounds up and down the country are now being stored by baristas in fully recyclable bags to be used as part of the Good Life, which is KUDOS’s wider sustainable initiatives programme.
Chief Executive of KUDOS, Matthew Herter, said: “Sustainability remains at the heart of our operations at KUDOS and considering the amount of coffee consumption throughout our cafes and in turn the impact on the environment, this was a no-brainer for us to implement.”
Cafes will also provide free bags for all guests to take away and use for their own garden growing purposes as recycled coffee grounds act as a great fertiliser to grow plants.
Coffee grounds contain several key minerals for plant growth, namely nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and chromium. They can also help attract worms and decrease the concentrations of heavy metals in the soil.
The initiative began at the Coventry’s Techno Centre café and has now rolled out to all KUDOS cafes including The John Smiths Stadium in Huddersfield, Wesley’s Café at Central Hall Westminster, The Porcupine Pantry in Penshurst Place and Brighton Centre.
The British Coffee Association estimates that UK consumption of coffee alone results in a conservative estimate of over half a million tonnes of waste coffee grounds produced every year, often sent to landfill. As coffee grounds decompose, they give off harmful greenhouse gases. By recycling and not sending coffee grounds to landfill there will be a significant reduction in carbon footprint resulting in a positive impact to the environment.