What to do with coffee drab

Cappuccino, espresso, latte machiatto, since I discovered coffee beans Im addicted to coffee. The black stuff that gives us the caffeine boost so that we can handle the day again.

vivakoffie.nl

For the coffee drinker, at such a moment nothing seems to be more important than a nice coffee in our favorite coffee bar, and of course preferably brewed from fair trade beans.

But did you know that we only consume 0.2 percent of the coffee bean and that 99.8 percent is left behind?

Coffee “drab” is since 2014 not just considered as waste anymore, but where new products will be made from; everywhere around the world.

tuinseizoen.com

Clothing from coffee

The coffee bean not only contains particularly tasty molecules, but also fibers that like to bind to other fibers, for example those made of plastic, so that these coffee fibers are suitable for textile applications. The Taiwanese textile company Singtex Industrial knows how to weave yarn from coffee dregs and PET waste. Shoes, jackets, bags, everything is possible with regard to coffee clothing.

fibre2fashion.com

Coffee fungi

Due to its biological composition, coffee dreg can act as an ideal mold. More and more young entrepreneurs in Europe are therefore working on growing fungi on coffee waste, in order to get more out of this waste than simply burning it. An inspiring example of this is the Dutch Rotterzwam. Two years ago, this company started growing fungi in the empty Tropicana swimming pool in Rotterdam. After a long learning process, they have achieved the miraculous by making their coffee roast one hundred percent recyclable. Whether it is converted into edible oyster mushrooms, enzymes or compost, the natural coffee waste has disappeared. The only thing that is left at Rotterzwam now is the plastic bags and use materials for the cultivation.

beplanet.org

Probably there are many more possibilities where coffee drab can be used for. Thanks to researchers, we will sure learn more about recycling waste in the future.