This company is turning your coffee ground waste into renewable energy

Did you know the UK produces 500,000 tonnes of waste from just our coffee grounds each year?

Yeah, we can’t imagine Costa or Starbucks could even fathom that amount. But what if we could save all of that from going to waste and instead put it to good use? That’s where bio-bean comes in.

Founded in 2013 and based in London, bio-bean is the first ever company to recycle these coffee granules, turning them into biofuels and biochemicals. The grounds apparently make a good feedstock helping to produce clean fuels, like bio-bean’s Coffee Logs.

Not getting it just yet? Tom Bage, 33, head of communications and marketing at bio-bean, started working at bio-bean in 2016, gave us the low-down on what exactly the company does.

He said: “bio-bean works within the existing energy and waste infrastructure to collect spent coffee grounds from coffee shops, offices, transport hubs and coffee factories.

“[They are then recycled] into sustainable and high-performance products, displacing conventional fuels and chemicals.”

Wondering how this smart idea came about? bio-bean’s founder, Arthur Kay, was given the task of designing a coffee shop that would be sustainable whilst studying architecture at University College London.

Bage commented: “He realised that however sustainable he made the building, coffee shops would always produce waste coffee grounds as part of the process of making cups of coffee.”

So after much research on the properties of waste coffee grounds, then unfortunately realising large doses of the material is disposed of in landfill sites, he founded bio-bean to combat greenhouse gas emissions and waste and instead, well, produce greener fuel.

Working with major coffee producers like Costa and Caffe Nero, bio-bean is sent thousands of tonnes of waste every single year. At the business’ factory in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, the grounds are processed into Coffee Logs. These are essentially a green fuel for the likes of open fires and stoves.

Bage explained: “Coffee is packed full of energy, [so] our Coffee Logs burn for hotter and longer than wood while cutting carbon emissions too.”

Currently, bio-bean is focusing on recycling waste coffee only from businesses, but individuals are free to ask their local coffee shop if they are part of bio-bean’s recycling programme. If not? Tell them to sign up on bio-bean’s website.

So, what are the future plans for Tom, Arthur and the team? Bage concluded: “Our goals are to recycle as much waste coffee as possible, saving CO2 and creating green fuels like Coffee Logs which can heat home sustainably.

“We have some exciting plans for biodiesel over the new few months, so watch this space!”

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