Recycling Coffee Grounds as Organic Fertilizer and Building Finishing Materials

Eunpyeong-gu Leads Resource Circulation through ‘Coffee Grounds Recycling’

Recycling coffee grounds collected from local coffee shops into organic compost and building finishing materials

Eunpyeong-gu (Mayor Kim Mi-kyung) announced that it has been conducting the ‘Coffee Grounds Recycling Activation Project’ involving about 140 coffee shops since this month.

Coffee grounds are the byproduct left after brewing coffee, commonly called coffee residue. Coffee grounds have a unique coffee aroma, so they do not produce bad odors, and since they do not contain impurities such as heavy metals, they can be recycled into eco-friendly compost and other materials. However, in reality, they are classified as household waste and are disposed of mixed with other general garbage.

Accordingly, Eunpyeong-gu plans to take the lead in resource circulation by collecting coffee grounds generated at coffee shops and recycling them into organic compost and building finishing materials.

Since last month, the district has been visiting all coffee shops directly to intensively promote the coffee grounds recycling project. As a result, about 140 businesses in the district are currently participating.

In the future, businesses wishing to participate can easily join by accessing the popup zone on the Eunpyeong-gu Office website, scanning the QR code, and filling out the mobile application form.

Eunpyeong-gu will actively encourage additional participation from local businesses through continuous promotional activities.

An official from the district said, “This project was launched as a proactive response to the increase in coffee consumption and changes in consumption patterns. We ask for much interest and participation in this project, which can reduce household waste disposal costs and carbon emissions.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.