Hitherto considered waste, coffee grounds are being transformed into a resource. It happens at CDA, ‘Cattelan Vending Machines,’ where waste from coffee dispensed by Italian hot beverage vending machines will be turned into pellets and agricultural soil conditioner.
The Friuli-based company developed the innovative recycling project in collaboration with the University of Udine and Blucomb, a spin-off of the university. Through the researchers’ analysis, it was found that coffee grounds have the right consistency to be made into pellets. And they even possess twice the calorific value in comparison with wood. Free of heavy metals, moreover, coffee grounds used in energy production by pyrolysis are transformed into a vegetable charcoal useful in agriculture.
The reuse of coffee waste is yet another sustainable choice for CDA, which has already achieved energy independence for its headquarters and the use of environmentally friendly means of distributing its products.
