by Gwyn Guthrie

Created on: August 14, 2010   Last Updated: August 20, 2010

When your morning cup of coffee is empty, and the caffeine buzz awakens your brain cells, consider some innovative ways to recycle those used coffee grinds.   If you are like many Americans, the remnants of coffee are tossed in the trash and the recycling opportunities lost forever.  There are many ways to recycle and reuse coffee grinds, providing benefit to your outdoor environment, to your indoor living environment, and to your health!

Starting in the great outdoors, coffee grinds mixed with soil create a natural and low-cost fertilizer for plants. Coffee also adds acidity to the soil.  If you have a garden or outdoor plants, coffee you can provide a feast for native earthworms.  If you work the coffee into the topsoil only, the diligent earthworms will come to the surface and can be collected for fishing bait. Coffee grinds are an excellent deterrent for ants, slugs, snails and similar pests when sprinkled as a barrier around the entire house or near doorways.

In 1995, Starbucks Coffee started a recycling program for gardeners.  The program, Grounds for Your Garden, offers used coffee grounds to customers.  According to the company website, customers can receive a complimentary five-pound bag of used coffee grinds to enrich garden soils as part of an overall company recycling initiative.

Moving inside the home, there are more opportunities for recycling.  In the kitchen, grinds make an excellent scrub for scouring greasy pots and pans. The texture is just right for loosening sticky cooking particles.  The same texture will clean your kitchen sink drain and a couple of treatments per month will keep your drain free of greasy clogs.

Deodorize your refrigerator and microwave with coffee grinds. For the refrigerator, place the grounds in a container with a few holes poked in the top. As the grinds dry, they will clear the unwanted refrigerator or freezer scents.  For the microwave, place grinds on a microwave-safe plate and microwave for approximately one minute to clear any residual odors inside the appliance.

For scratched or damaged mahogany furniture, a good coffee stain is the perfect color to hide the damage.  Soak some coffee grinds for several hours with just enough water to cover them. As the grinds soak, the water becomes darker.  Use the water and a lint-free cloth to touch up your furniture.  This process can create a natural stain for unfinished wood, but you will need much more volume, such as several days of coffee grinds, or you can enjoy a lighter color on natural wood with just a small volume of coffee as your stain.

Finally, for healthy recycling ideas, use coffee grounds as a natural skin dermabrasion product!  Take some coffee into the shower and use with a washcloth to refresh and rejuvenate your skin. Share with your pet! Similar to the repellent of small outdoor pests, coffee grounds is an organic flea dip that deodorizes when brushed into your dog's coat.

So, start saving your coffee grinds and re-use them in ways that change the world. Recycling is a wonderful way that small steps can create change in your personal environment and in your family's health.

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