EcoBean turns leftover coffee grounds into clean energy products
Over 500 million cups of coffee are drunk in Poland every year and there has been an 80% increase in coffee consumption. What should be done with all those waste coffee grounds that would otherwise end up in landfill?
Polish enterprise EcoBean, together with Warsaw University of Technology, has developed a new method for the production of coffee logs from leftover coffee grounds.
Coffee logs are a carbon-neutral biofuel which can be used for open fires, BBQs, stoves and fireplaces. They burn for longer, produce more energy than wood, are made in a cost-effective way and provide a sustainable alternative that burns longer and produces more energy than wood.
Ecobean is already working on additional applications for spent coffee ground, such as a biodegradable biopolymer that might be used to produce disposable cups or straws.
- EcoBean will start collecting waste coffee grounds from 100 suppliers in 2020 first quarter
- In its first year, it plans to receive 240 tonnes of waste coffee grounds
- With this leftover, coffee production capacity reaches almost 1 million coffee logs annually
- Each coffee log is made from the grounds of 25 cups of coffee
- Coffee logs are a clean energy significantly lowering CO2 emissions, compared to landfill disposal
- After proof of concept, EcoBean plans to scale up business in EU.