I wrote a couple months ago about why I hate Starbucks for promoting waste. I’m here to say that I recently made a discovery which helps Starbucks atone, if just a little, for the waste they promoted previously.
I stopped going to Starbucks a while back to both support other stores and as a way to protest Starbucks’ blatant waste. Well, last week, I had no choice as someone I was meeting with vehemently insisted on going to Starbucks. Resisting with every bone in my body, I told him that I’d meet him there, but only if we could sit outside since I would buy a drink somewhere else. (I give credit to Starbucks for not asking me to leave since I didn’t buy anything from their store).
As I was leaving, I walked through the inside of the store. Lo and behold, I saw a bin in the corner which contained free bags of used coffee grounds. Apparently, Starbucks has been offering free grounds since 2004. I think it’s a fantastic program. Used coffee grounds are great for the garden and great for composting. Adding coffee grounds to compost or ground soil increases the nitrogen balance, increases the rate of composting, and provides food for worms, which are great for gardens and plants. Here are some tips I read from an EPA article:
- Add brown leaves and grass clippings to offset the acidity of coffee grounds
- Grounds should not make up more than 25% of a compost pile
- Add one teaspoon of wood or lime for every five pounds of grounds to offset acidity levels
- Coffee grounds helps worms flourish – worms are great for your soil and garden!
- Coffee grounds can help repel pests
If you need a lot of coffee grounds, work with your local Starbucks manager. Many are more than happy to work with you on special needs. I’m still going to pass on buying coffee from Starbucks, but I won’t resist as strongly the next time someone wants to go there.
Hey! Thanks for the great advice. I never knew you could use coffee grounds for compost! I was browsing through a bunch of green websites and blogs and I came across yours and found it very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like the daily green, ecorazzi and earthlab.com. I especially like EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). I find it really easy to use (it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any others you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites (let me know if they are the same as mine).
It’s even better that you can get the grounds for free from Starbucks! If you need a lot of grounds, talk to the manager and see if you can reserve a larger, regular amount for yourself. Just make sure the grounds make up no more than 25% of your compost pile.
Thanks for sending over your links. Check out our blog roll on the front page (http://www.thingsthatmakeyougogreen.com). It’s at the lower right, and it looks like we have different links.
Thanks for visiting us at TTMYGG! I hope you continue to enjoy what we write!
Sadly, not all the starbucks do this. In fact, at least here in Northern Ohio they just look at you funny and wait for the crazy lady to leave.
For composters out there, many Borders are doing a similar project.
Jenna,
That’s disappointing to hear. On Starbucks’ website, they talk about composting with grounds as if they offer grounds in all their stores.
I would talk with the manager at the store near you. I can’t imagine the manager would be opposed to saving some grounds for you. It’s trash to them anyway, and this would offer such a great opportunity for the manager to reach out to customers and to the community.
I can take some pictures of the setup at the Starbucks here and post them up for you if you’d like so you can show the store manager how he / she is being a terrible corporate and environmental citizen!
Good tip. I need coffee grinds to repel snails, as I mentioned in one of my previous posts. This is perfect for me since I don’t drink coffee; saves me from having to purchase a product I won’t use!
I was researching the same thing when I saw this.. I can not agree more - but I am still going to look for a better source