Get free coffee grounds for your home or community garden and help divert organic waste from landfill.
Australian cafes each produce an average of 80kg of coffee grounds every week. Much of this can end up in landfill where it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
By using coffee grounds in your garden compost, you can divert this valuable resource from landfill, improve your garden soil and provide nutrients to your plants.
Adding coffee grounds to your garden compost can:
- improve soil’s water-holding capacity
- increase the availability of nitrogen, phosphorous, zinc, and iron in the soil
- attract earth worms
Coffee grounds are best used in compost rather than applying straight on the garden. Mixing coffee grounds with other organic matter such as manures, sawdust or organic garden waste, can make a great compost mix. The ideal proportion of ground coffee in your compost pile is between 10 to 20 percent of your total compost volume.
How to get involved
Simply check with your local cafe if they provide their used coffee grounds for community members to use on gardens at home.
Cafes can register using the form below and collect their participant sticker from Council's Administrative Centre to let the community know they are participating. Cafes can then begin providing coffee grounds to the community and improving their environmental footprint.
Frequently asked questions
Coffee grounds contain at least 2 per cent nitrogen by volume which is necessary to providing the soil with energy to support bacteria in the soil for compost. Coffee grounds can be used as soil conditioner, fertiliser and compost. Coffee grounds are able to hold water in the soil and are also anecdotally supress weeds. Coffee grounds are not recommended for seedlings.
Coffee grounds are best used in compost rather than applying straight on the garden. Mixing coffee grounds with other organic matter such as manures, sawdust or organic garden waste, can make a great compost mix.
The ideal proportion of ground coffee in your compost pile is between 10 to 20 percent of your total compost volume.
The caffeine in coffee grounds is toxic to dogs. Even 3 teaspoons of coffee grounds can have adverse effects. We do not recommend using coffee grounds in your gardens if you have a furry friend.
Coffee grounds have been known to deter pests such as slugs and snails. Cats have also been known to be deterred due to the smell. Worms are not impacted by coffee grounds but work well in the environment to convert the organics into nutrients.
Waste is a global matter which we all can take part in reducing our footprint on the environment. By giving away coffee grounds to local growers, cafes will be helping to improve soil quality and supporting community growing. As a participating cafe, you are reducing the contents in your garbage bin which may lead to a reduction in the frequency of bin services which saves you money. As a local business you can feel proud to be working with our community in reducing emissions that would occur if grounds end up in landfill.