Putting coffee waste to good use
Tailor-made reusable fabric bags allow coffee chaff to be used as bedding on a chicken farm.
Danes Specialty Coffee
Danes Specialty Coffee have been in business for 28 years. Coffee chaff, the dried husk of the coffee bean that is waste from the roasting process, was being collected in garbage bags, and emptied twice daily into general skip bins.
Custom-designed reusable fabric bags have eliminated the use of plastic garbage bags. Instead of going into the skip, the organic waste is sent to a chicken farm to be used as bedding.
This process has multiple benefits: diverting waste from landfill, putting a waste product to good use and saving the business waste disposal costs.
How Bin Trim helped
A Bin Trim assessor visited the business to conduct a free waste assessment. The assessor estimated the volumes of material in the bins and provided an action plan.
The assessor recommended using tailor-made reusable bags, and using wheelie bins. A Bin Trim rebate of $1,121, meant the cost of the changes to Danes Specialty Coffee was halved.
Results
Today, organic waste (including chaff, waste beans and grinds) is collected and sent to a nearby chicken farm to be used as bedding. This allows the business to manage their waste in a cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable way.
The reusable bags have replaced the plastic bags previously used by the business.
The numbers
- Bin Trim rebate of $1,121
- new equipment – reusable bags and wheelie bins
- $300 saved in waste management costs per month
- approximately 4.69 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill annually
The benefits
- landfill waste reduced by 50%
- lower waste disposal costs
- waste product can be reused
- savings on the cost of plastic garbage bags
