5 Ways to Recycle Coffee Grounds

As coffee lovers, there’s something we always have in our kitchen every single day: used coffee grounds. If you’ve been tossing them in the garbage every day or use some for compost, but don’t know what to do with the rest, I have a whole heap of ideas for recycling those grounds today from beauty products to garden maintenance.

I’ve been actively trying, every few months, to evaluate my eco-conscious behaviors. We taught our daughter to recycle, but unfortunately, we just don’t have a means or space for composting right now. So, I’ve been trying to find unique ways to recycle organic matter and the like until our city (hopefully) adds compost bins to our trash pick up. I wanted to jump on the blog today to bring you a list of ways you can use your used coffee grounds every day too! I haven’t tried all of these, but there’s definitely something for everyone!

1. Exfoliating Coffee Scrub - So this I actually made! All you do is mix together used coffee grounds, raw sugar, and coconut oil. There’s no exact science to the ratios, just mix up the consistency you’d like to have and seal it up in an airtight container. I have been keeping mine in my kitchen because it smells amazing when used and we all know the kitchen can get some strong smells onto our hands! If you get done chopping onions or garlic, grab this scrub to get the smell out quick. You can take just a small amount, scrub all over your hands and rinse. Your hands will be baby soft immediately! You can even take this in the shower to exfoliate even more. 
   
   
2. Clean Your Hair - A hairdresser recently told me that if you use used coffee grounds and work it into your hair, it can help remove some of the product residues that builds up in your hair. Before shampooing, simply grab a quarter size amount and just work it through to basically exfoliate your hair before washing! I haven’t done it yet, but I definitely need to try soon
   
   
3. Arts and Crafts Dye - If you add a little bit of water to used grounds, you can take white paper and essentially turn it into something that will look like golden parchment. The kids (or adults!) will love the process of dyeing the paper and then using it for a full project afterward. If you have enough, you can also try to dye fabric, cloths and many other things too!
   
   
4. Compost or Fertilizer - My Oma is a very talented gardener. She always has been and I’ve always loved watching her in her garden. One thing I’ve always seen her do is add both used coffee grounds and eggshells throughout her large garden. If you don’t have a garden or flowers to add them to, you can also toss it into your compost pile (if you have one). Coffee grounds are also really great when you plant carrots, who would’ve thought?
   
   
5. Remove Odors - Did you grow up with a permanent box of baking soda in the fridge? We all know baking soda is good for removing smells from the fridge, but you can also do this with coffee grounds. Simply put your used coffee grounds in an open container in the fridge and change it out every couple of weeks. They’ll absorb the bad smells and keep everything smelling fresh and nice. After you use them like this, you can still fertilize or compost them too!

That, by no means, is a list of the only ways you can recycle your coffee grounds, but I hope it’s got you thinking of how to start recycling your Crooks and Coffee grounds in the future! Let me know in the comments if you recycle your grounds right now and what you do with them and if you don’t, we’d love to hear what ways you are excited to try next!

Until next time, enjoy your coffee!

Veronica

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Veronica is the blog manager for Crooks + Coffee, as well as the blogger and creator of Caffeinate then Create. She lives in Iowa with her husband, Randy, and their 5 yr old self-proclaimed pirate princess, Gabby.  She loves to write, play board games and has a deep seeded love of Star Wars and coffee.