For many people, there is no better way to start the morning than with a cup of coffee. Taking coffee before setting out for each day’s work is an excellent practice because coffee provides the caffeine needed to stay active all day.
However, each cup of coffee leaves you with some needless waste to eliminate. According to Everybody Craves, the average American drinks about 3.1 cups of coffee daily, meaning there are more coffee wastes to dispose of daily.
Coffee grounds are among the daily wastes, and you will learn how to dispose of them in this post.
How to Dispose Of Coffee Grounds
You can dispose of coffee grounds by repurposing them for household use or use them in your garden, and you can dispose of them in the garbage bin, but that should be your last option. Let’s explore the different methods for disposing of coffee grounds.
Repurpose For Household Use
One of the best ways to dispose of coffee grounds is to repurpose them for several household uses. Some of the things you can do at home with this waste will surprise you, and it is advisable to try them out rather than fill up the landfills with your coffee grounds.
Below are the different ways of repurposing coffee grounds for household use.
Scrub Pots And Pans
Coffee grounds are acidic and abrasive. Hence, you can use them domestically to remove stubborn buildups in pots and pans. You do not need a lot of coffee grounds for this; a small amount will be enough to clean any hard-to-clean pan in your kitchen.
Before using coffee grounds on pots and pans, ensure they are stainless because coffee grounds can leave a brown stain on un stain-resistant utensils. Also, ensure your sink has a mesh drain basket that would collect the grounds. Then, you can combine two to three teaspoons of the coffee ground with warm, soapy water and scrub the pans with a soft sponge until clean.
Repurposing coffee grounds for hard-to-clean kitchen utensils is an excellent way to keep them away from landfills and provide space for other household waste. In addition, the abrasive form of coffee grounds makes them environmentally better than abrasive sponges.
Clean Grills
Another way to repurpose coffee grounds is to use them in cleaning the grill. You already see how you can use it for hard-to-clean pans and pots, but that is not all it can do in the kitchen.
Removing dirt, grease, and grime from your grills may be more demanding than cleaning pots and pans, but you can still trust coffee grounds to make the cleaning easier because of their acidity.
To do this:
- Soak your grill grates in a solution of warm water and a few spoonfuls of coffee ground.
- Leave it for about 45 minutes, and the dirt will soften.
- Scrub the dirt with a soft sponge.
Still in the kitchen? You can use coffee grounds to clean your ovens, fridge, and bin, and you can also use them to clean kitchen surfaces.
Make Dye
You can repurpose coffee grounds to make dye for clothes, hair, paper, and furniture rather than dumping them in landfills.
To do this, tie the coffee filter filled with leftover coffee grounds tightly with a rubber band, then soak it in 470ml water. If you want a deeper color, boil it for about 10 minutes, then add a teaspoon of vinegar. Mix it thoroughly, and your dye is ready to be used.
Improve Your Skin Quality With Coffee Grounds
You can use coffee grounds to develop a new skincare routine. There are many ways you can apply coffee grounds to your skin to improve its quality.
You can combine it with olive or coconut oil to moisturize dry skin, and you can also use it to scrub off dried skin cells.
In addition, coffee grounds are good for reducing puffiness around your eyes. You can do this by putting the coffee grounds on a damp paper towel and applying it to the eyes for fifteen to twenty minutes.
Cover Spots And Scratches On Furniture
Having spots or scratches on furniture in your house may be annoying, but applying leftover coffee grounds could be the solution you need.
Using a cotton swab, carefully apply coffee grounds to the affected part of the furniture. While this may not give the exact result you wanted, it does an excellent job of disguising the fault.
To create a solution, you can also steep coffee grounds in ¼ cup of warm water and ¼ cup of white vinegar. Mix the solution and let it rest for about an hour before applying it to the affected parts of your furniture with a clean rag.
Dispose Of Medicines With Coffee Grounds
Sometimes, we have those medicines that are either expired or unneeded lying around, and you can repurpose coffee grounds for disposing of them.
Although there are several ways of disposing of expired medications, using coffee grounds is also reliable and easy. When you dispose of medicines with coffee grounds, they become less hazardous, and you can dispose of them in your garbage bins. Ordinarily, it is harmful to dispose of medications as regular trash, but treating them with coffee grounds is safe.
To do this, put the expired or unneeded medicines in a sealable plastic bag. Add used coffee grounds to fill up the bag and seal it. Once closed, you can dispose of it in the garbage bin.
Caution: You should not use this method to dispose of narcotic painkillers and other prescribed abusable drugs. Instead, see how to dispose of expired medications here or learn about the drug take-back programs in your community.
Use Coffee Grounds For Gardening
If you have space for gardening on your property, you should consider using those leftover coffee grounds for gardening instead of tossing them into the garbage bin.
Coffee grounds can retain essential soil nutrients like nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, which is why they can be a gardener’s delight. The several ways of using coffee grounds for gardening, and you will find some of them below:
Make Compost Heaps
Composting is the process of turning organic waste into substances rich in nutrients. Composting helps to improve the soil, reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses, and cushion the effects of drought conditions.
Many communities in the United States encourage composting and have embraced it as part of their community gardening. Even programs organized by these communities allow people to pick up composting materials.
However, if you are not interested in making compost heaps with leftover coffee grounds, you can check if your community accepts donations of coffee grounds for composting.
Fertilize Plants
Coffee grounds are acidic, and their acidic nature can help plants that require acidic soil to thrive. These plants are blueberries, azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, camellias, and daffodils.
Repel Pests
Leftover coffee grounds can come in handy when you must repel crop-destroying pests like ants and snails. All you need to do is to create a circle at the base of your crops using coffee grounds.
If you also have ant issues in your home, sprinkle coffee grounds in places where you know ants hide, and it will help you solve the issue.
Grow Mushrooms
Another way to repurpose coffee grounds in the garden is to grow mushrooms. You will find this method to be appealing if you love mushrooms.
Mushroom varieties like Oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms grow well in coffee grounds, and you can check out how to grow mushrooms on coffee grounds here.
Dispose Of Coffee Grounds In The Garbage Bin
While this should be the last option for disposing of coffee grounds, it is still a safe and effective way to eliminate household waste. This method is applicable if you do not have the time or resources to repurpose your coffee grounds and you do not have someone who may need them.
The only reason you should consider other options before thrashing your coffee grounds is to help reduce the amount of trash at landfills. But, if repurposing is not feasible for you, go on and dispose of your coffee grounds with other regular garbage; after all, it is a non-hazardous waste.
Adding coffee grounds to the garbage bin can also be advantageous as they tend to absorb odors and can help keep your trash from smelling too bad. Therefore, even if you plan to repurpose your coffee grounds, you can still add a little to your garbage bin to keep it from smelling bad.
The Don’ts Of Disposing Of Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds are non-hazardous wastes, but it does not mean you can handle them anyhow. It is essential to keep coffee grounds away from your sink or drain.
Avoid disposing of coffee grounds by pouring them down the sink or flushing them down the toilet. It can clog up your pipes and cause problems in your septic systems.
Conclusion
Coffee grounds are non-hazardous wastes, and you can dispose of them as regular trash, but beyond thrashing them, they are beneficial domestically, and you may consider repurposing them instead.
Finally, avoid having coffee grounds in your sinks, toilet, or septic system to avoid causing septic system problems.
