Veolia, working in partnership with Starbucks, has launched a new trial using worms to recycle coffee grounds and turn them into fertiliser, returning valuable resources back to the food chain.
Veolia, the UK’s leading resource management company, has developed a trial to divert spent
coffee grounds from landfill. Working with Wormganix, a producer of worm castings, Veolia has
recycled three tonnes of spent coffee grounds, the equivalent of 420,000 single shot coffees. The
Wormganix unique method feeds worms a mixture of paper pulp and spent coffee grounds that
they digest to produce a nutrient rich fertiliser such as humus or vermicompost, that contains
beneficial microbes, fungi and bacteria that improves soil health.
The UK enjoys nearly 98 million cups of coffee per day* generating over 250,000 tonnes of spent
coffee ground waste annually in the process. If treated properly, spent coffee grounds have the
potential to improve soil health, due to being naturally rich in nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium
and phosphorus. This trial aims to assess the viability of a new low carbon natural solution for
disposing of spent coffee grounds, which could also aid in reducing reliance on artificial fertilisers
that are high in chemicals.
The Veolia Wormganix trial is currently taking place with a Starbucks store in Bradford, West
Yorkshire, where Veolia facilitates the collection of the spent coffee grounds to be mixed with paper
pulp and fed to the worms to digest. The Wormganix facility is based just outside Bradford in
Cleckheaton, only six miles away from the participating store.
The trial sits alongside Starbucks’ other food waste initiatives to tackle coffee ground waste. The
business has already been taking advantage of the natural fertilisation properties of coffee grounds
via their Grounds For Your Garden scheme, where stores across the UK donate bags of used
coffee grounds to customers to use in their gardens. Starbucks also supports businesses with
innovative food waste ideas via The Eat It Up Fund, a partnership between Starbucks and
environmental charity, Hubbub.
Commenting on the Wormganix and Starbucks partnership, Veolia’s Managing Director for Commercial, Adam Wylie said: “We are always looking for innovative solutions to help our customers with their sustainability goals and this project utilises new methods to tackle a challenging waste stream. We are looking forward to seeing the results of the trial and the positive impact that it can have on the coffee industry.”
Kevin Payne, Regional Operations Manager in the North at Soul Coffee House
Limited – the Starbucks licensee for the Bradford store said: “We’re thrilled to see the positive impact this will have in Bradford, supporting local business and the community.
“The new pilot with Wormganix is still in an early stage, but we are excited and proud that the
Centenary Square, Market St, Bradford store represents another important step for Starbucks UK
in our work to tackle food waste.”
Veolia has focused on the production and sale of high quality and sustainable fertiliser into the
horticultural industry supporting clients with their environmental goals. With opportunities from
farming earthworms on organic wastes, the results from this project have the potential to kick start
a new industry that recycles nutrients back into the food chain from previous waste streams.
*https://britishcoffeeassociation.org/coffee-consumption/
