Do you ever wonder how many coffee grounds get thrown straight into the bin after use? It’s estimated that 500,000 tonnes of coffee waste goes to UK landfills each year—more than the weight of the Tower of London. Not only is this wasteful, it also contributes to global warming.
The overall problem is immense but we can all do our bit to work on the solution.
Since December 2021, I’ve led a composting initiative in partnership with eight Rye cafés which is having numerous benefits. By collecting their used coffee grinds twice weekly for our composting project and worm bins at the Rye Community Garden, we’ve eliminated over four tonnes from going to landfills and have reduced the production of dangerous carbon dioxide and methane gases.
The nitrogen and mineral-rich coffee waste is playing a major role in the decomposition process of our five 4’x4’ piles, creating compost that is used on our vegetable beds. This is crucial to help us building up our production abilities so we can grow vegetables to distribute to the Rye Foodbank and our local community residents. Creating mineral-rich soil by reducing landfill waste is a very positive way to reduce our carbon footprint. Compost also grows worms for enriching our soil, as well as feeding our beautiful bird friends.
We use recycled pallets for our compost bins and have established a working system thanks to some very enthusiastic volunteer composters. Compost from our winter piles established garden beds in our newly-constructed greenhouse and has enriched many of our existing raised vegetable beds.
Our ability to produce even more quality compost is now only limited by our quantity of inputs. I’m therefore inviting everyone who has grass cuttings, food scraps, newspapers, animal manure, or other organic matter they wish to contribute to bring them along to the garden if they are able. I collect coffee grinds every Monday and Thursday and could possibly arrange to pick up other suitable material at peoples’ homes if there’s a large enough quantity.
I’d like to give a shout out to Café des Fleurs, Café Zara, The Apothecary, Kino Cinema, Simon the Pieman, Whitehouse, Cornish Café, Jempson’s, and the Rye Leisure Centre for their continual contributions. Sharon at Undercliff Pony Rescue has also donated horse manure, which is greatly appreciated as another basic ingredient of good compost.
To check out first-hand what we are doing at the Rye Community Garden, please consider joining us for a special open garden event on Saturday, August 13 from 12 noon – 2pm at the end of Love Lane. Everyone is welcome to tour our gardens, join in on a composting workshop, ask gardening questions, and share in our “Stone Soup” meal.
It is said that “it takes a community to raise a child” so in that spirit, it can be said that it takes a community to raise a garden. The story of Stone Soup illustrates how individual contributions (ingredients) can join together to create a nourishing meal (soup) and build community at the same time. This form of sustainable community development is at the heart of regenerative climate action.
If any other local businesses have compostable materials and would like to support our community garden composting project while assisting in diminishing the effects of climate change, please contact me at: ponosolutionsconsulting@gmail.com.
This is an amazing initiative by Graham, supported by local businesses. It goes to show that there are easy steps that businesses and individuals alike can take to start creating a circular economy and move away from the prevailing model of ‘take, make, use, lose’.
What an excellent idea. We will definitely be saving our coffee grounds for the compost heap in future. We thought we were well versed when it comes to composting but we had never heard of this before and it is an added bonus to think that we will be helping to protect the environment.