IMU Sustainability Office and Sustainability Student Club continue to develop projects to reduce the production of organic waste in our campus areas and to turn these wastes into usable plant fertilizers. Our sustainability teams have started collecting coffee waste produced in our campus areas for recycling. After drying, the collected used coffee grounds are used in the composting practices carried out by the Sustainability Student Club, and the excess coffee grounds are packaged and shared with the city residents who practice composting.
Our sustainability teams continue to expand the waste recycling efforts they started in 2022 to reduce the amount of solid waste generated in our campus areas. The IMU Sustainability Student Club, which carries out hot composting and bokashi composting practices to reduce the amount of food waste generated within the campus areas, has started to recycle coffee grounds in order to expand composting practices by increasing the amount of composted organic waste and to raise awareness in the public about the recycling of food waste. The project team pointed out that with the increase in the consumption of almost all types of coffee today, the amount of waste generated as a result of this consumption has also increased, and that the reuse and recycling of coffee grounds and the production of bioplastics have also come to the fore with increasing consumption. The project team stated that they prefer to recycle coffee grounds through composting, which they consider to be the option that will keep the energy requirement and production waste to a minimum.
The project team started to collect the coffee grounds of the coffee consumed in the Sustainability Office and the coffee grounds of the cafes that sell coffee in our North Campus area to be used in composting practices. The team members stated that they collect coffee waste that is not mixed with dairy products and sugar and brewed plainly because coffee mixed with dairy products can cause bacterial growth and bad odours. It was also stated that these collected coffee grounds were air-dried on a large area and on cardboard at regular intervals to prevent mould and after the drying process was completed, the coffee grounds were ready to be used as plant nutrients. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK, a research assistant at the Sustainability Office and one of the academic advisors of the project, stated that used coffee grounds are rich in essential minerals such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium, which are necessary for the growth of plants, and therefore these wastes, which are thrown away after brewing, can be reused as a great nutrient for plants. However, she pointed out that coffee grounds should not be used directly to feed plants due to its acidic nature. Due to its acidic nature, coffee grounds will lower the pH of the soil and should therefore be avoided in plants that prefer alkaline soil, such as succulents and cacti. Similarly, too much coffee fertiliser used at once can cause nitrogen burn, which can lead to yellowing of the leaves and wilting of the plant. For this reason, she underlined that it is the most appropriate method to use these prepared coffee grounds by fermenting them with compost applications.
ÇELİKBİLEK stated that a part of the prepared coffee grounds are used for hot compost and bokashi compost applications carried out by the Sustainability Community, and that the remaining part after this use is packaged and shared with the citizens who make compost applications. ÇELİKBİLEK explained that they attach importance to waste management projects that will reduce the environmental footprint of our campus community and the public in the corporate responsibility projects they develop in our campus areas, and stated that the bags used to pack the coffee in this project were the packaging of old calendars used in the institution and that these packages were also reused. In this context, she stated that the project carried out has made a significant contribution to the zero waste project of our institution by reducing both organic waste and plastic waste within our campus areas.
The project team stated that they use some of the compost fertilisers they produce using coffee grounds in their agricultural production projects to produce food and to multiply and distribute heirloom seeds, and that they share the remaining composts free of charge with people who want to use them in their gardens and balcony pots. In addition, the project team announced that a 5kg portion of the packaged coffee grounds will be shared with the citizens at the Environment Festival to be held by Kadıköy Municipality between 31 May – 02 June 2024, and that those who request can come to the Sustainability Office stand and get coffee grounds packs free of charge.
