Coffee grounds promote sustainability

Last October, senior environmental studies major Jessica McDonald came up with the idea to have an on-campus coffee shop save coffee grounds to promote a more sustainable environment.

Inspired by a conversation with a Starbucks employee who said recycled used coffee grounds can benefit the environment, McDonald set out to advance environmental sustainability at Pitt.

“The grounds can be used as compost to put in gardens, rather than just throwing it away,” McDonald, also a student sustainability coordinator for Sodexo, said.

McDonald introduced the program Grounds for Growth last October to focus on collecting used coffee grounds for composting and gardening. The program was put in place on Feb. 24. McDonald said that in the three weeks since that date, people have picked up about 50 bags of reused coffee grounds. If the project continues, participants in Grounds for Growth will reuse about 600 pounds of coffee grounds every semester.

McDonald said that a student volunteer goes to the Oakland Bakery and Market every day between 2 and 3 p.m. and scoops the used coffee grounds into biodegradable and compostable bags. The bags are then placed on the bakery’s window sill for anyone to pick up for composting or gardening.

At Pitt, coffee grounds are available for free at the bakery between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in biodegradable bags that come with directions for how one can reuse the grounds. Compostable coffee filters are placed in the bags, as well, McDonald said.

Susan Fukushima, Sodexo’s resident district manager, said before McDonald implemented the project, the bakery threw away about 10.5 pounds of used coffee grounds each week.

That was a large enough volume of grounds for her idea to make an impact and be worth her time, McDonald said.

Nicole Wojtowicz, the nighttime supervisor of Oakland Bakery and Market, said she supported McDonald’s program.

“We do produce a lot of waste,” Wojtowicz said. “It’s nice for us to take part in Jess’ idea.”

Wojtowicz said the Grounds for Growth program promotes a “healthy feel,” along with other initiatives the bakery has adopted, such as McDonald’s BYO(bag) initiative, a project that aims to cut down on the use of plastic bags around campus.

 “We sell a lot of gluten-free foods, and I think that the whole plastic bag idea has been very beneficial, too. I’d say the bag use has been cut in half since it began,” she said.

To gain financial support for Grounds for Growth, McDonald wrote a proposal to James Earle, executive vice chancellor of business and director of food and housing services. Earle was unable to disclose the program’s cost by the time of publication.

“It was easy for the University to support this project, and [it’s] just another example of how we are working with our students to make Pitt and our world more sustainable,” Earle said.

According to McDonald, some of the supplies needed included barrels and bags to hold and bring home the grounds and baskets for the windows.

McDonald then reached out to a few student organizations including the Fair Food Cooperative, a club that is working with the Real Food Challenge, a national organization that strives to help college students push for healthier and greener on-campus dining services, and Free the Planet, an environmental organization that fosters awareness of environmental issues.

A total of 14 volunteers have helped collect coffee grounds and set up the project.

Anna Greenberg, a freshman who plans on majoring in environmental studies, involved herself in the project through the Fair Food Cooperation club.

Once a week for about 30 minutes, she volunteers by bagging up the bakery’s coffee grounds.

“[The program] promotes Pitt as an environmentally conscious campus, gives people an opportunity to get free fertilizer for their gardens and helps the Oakland Bakery cut down on their waste,” Greenberg said.

In terms of improvement, Greenberg believes students must be better informed about the benefits of composting and the different ways they can get involved in environmental projects.

“I think that there are lots of great projects happening all around Pitt’s campus, both sustainability-related or other, that students could really get into if they just knew that the projects were happening,” Greenberg said.

Grounds for Growth is beneficial to community members who love to compost.

Matthew Peters, a self-proclaimed “worm whisperer,” raises red wiggler worms and sells the compost they make for a living at a farm in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood. Three weeks ago, he picked up about 10 or 15 pounds of coffee grinds from the bakery for the worms after talking to McDonald about her project.

“The project is targeted toward anyone who has a passion for gardening and composting in the Pitt community,” Peters, 45, said. “I like to use coffee grounds because it doesn’t attract other animals and the worms love it.”

Peters said he has been using coffee grounds for many years and already has a source for them, but he said he would be “happy to go back to support the program in the future.”

Markets and bakeries throughout the Pittsburgh area are also implementing composting programs.

Marty’s Market, a food market, cafe and coffee bar located in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, is also very concerned with reusing and composting items, according to the market’s programming director, Johanna Klotz.

“Any unused items are donated to a men’s shelter in Pittsburgh called Light of Life,” Klotz said. “Foods that aren’t donated or reused are put in three bins in the back of the store where they will be taken away to be composted.”

Marty’s Market has a contract with AgRecycle, a company that contracts with different restaurants and markets in Pittsburgh to take leftover products and bring them to composting sites.

According to Klotz, “composting is an all-around good process” because the store is able to pay by the truckload to compost waste, which saves money and also benefits the environment.

“We do what we can to make sure that food gets to people by trying to create as close to a closed-loop system as possible,” Klotz said.