Seocho-gu Partners with Cheonil Energy to Recycle Coffee Grounds

Seocho-gu, Seoul (Mayor Jeon Seong-su) announced on the 19th that it has established a system to recycle coffee grounds, which pour out by the tens of thousands of tons daily from coffee shops, into eco-friendly bioenergy raw materials. Starting from the 20th of this month, the district will expand the ‘Coffee Grounds Recycling Project’ targeting coffee shops within the area.

Seocho-gu and Cheonil Energy signed a business agreement for coffee grounds recycling. Photo by Seocho-gu.

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At the end of last year, the district signed a business agreement with the renewable energy company Cheonil Energy Co., Ltd. (CEO Park Sang-won) to cooperate on the coffee grounds recycling project.

The main point of this agreement is to build a system that handles everything from waste reporting to free on-site collection and recycling using a mobile app for coffee shops, ultimately utilizing the coffee grounds as energy raw materials.

Through this system, the district expects a triple benefit: cost savings on collection, transportation, and landfill fees and carbon emission reduction through free collection by the partner company; reduced burden of volume-based waste disposal for coffee shops; and securing eco-friendly bioenergy raw materials through large quantities of coffee grounds for the partner company.

Seocho-gu is recruiting coffee shops that wish to participate. Coffee shops can register with the waste easy-handling mobile app ‘Jiguhada’ and apply for collection. The partner company will visit the shops on the designated collection day to collect all coffee grounds, and the district will monitor the collection volume and recycling status to analyze the effect on reducing household waste.

The expansion of this project reflects the regional characteristics where a large amount of coffee grounds are generated and the will to solve this issue in an eco-friendly way. Numerous coffee shops are concentrated in specialized streets such as Gangnam Station, Express Bus Terminal Station areas, Bangbae Cafe Alley, Yangjaecheon-gil, and Seocho Instrument Street, which are representative commercial districts of Seoul.

Coffee grounds, a type of household waste, emit 338 kg of greenhouse gases per ton when incinerated and cause soil pollution when landfilled. The district has been striving to minimize these impacts and promote the recycling of coffee grounds.

So far, the district piloted the coffee grounds recycling project with 50 coffee shops starting in 2023 to reduce household waste. As a result, about 70 tons of coffee grounds were collected and recycled into fertilizers and other products, achieving a carbon reduction effect of 24 tons.

Meanwhile, the district is making efforts to create an environment where residents participate in resource circulation in their daily lives. Representative initiatives include operating 18 unmanned collection machines for recyclable resources such as transparent PET bottles and paper packs, supporting recycling bins for multi-family housing, operating 245 new-concept clothing collection bins called ‘Otchetong’ considering urban aesthetics, and providing collection bins for used batteries and ice packs with confirmation services through the Seocho Big Data Platform.

Mayor Jeon Seong-su said, “I hope many coffee shops will participate in this project to create a sustainable resource circulation culture,” and added, “We will continue to promote various daily life-oriented recycling policies that residents can feel in their everyday lives to make Seocho a ‘Leading City in Resource Circulation.’”

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