Achievements
Finalists in the 2023 Sustainable Business Awards!
We are excited to share some news with you: we’ve been selected as finalists in the ‘Going Circular’ category of the 2023 Sustainable Business Awards. see finalists
Conscious coffee upcycling
Creating upcycled coffee materials and a circular coffee economy
Globally, we consume over 2.25 billion cups of coffee every day.
Making coffee creates huge amounts of waste, whether it’s made at home or in your favourite cafe.
What happens to the coffee grounds beyond your cup of coffee is rarely thought about. As New Zealand’s first coffee waste biorefinery, we’re on a mission to develop a circular economy for the coffee sector in New Zealand.
Waste not, want not
According to World Data Atlas, in 2018, New Zealand imported over 74,000 tonnes of coffee. The spent coffee grounds that remain after your coffee has been brewed are the most abundant coffee by-product. 91% of the coffee bean ends up as a waste product.
For every 100 grams of coffee used in brewing a cup of coffee, 91 grams of coffee end up as waste. Much of this coffee is dumped in landfills, where it decomposes and releases methane.
1 tonne of decomposing coffee grounds in landfills produces 340 m3 of methane—a greenhouse gas that’s 25 times more potent than CO2—in the process, trapping heat in our atmosphere and contributing to global warming.
“We need to rapidly rethink the way we treat coffee waste”
At Caffology, we are turning leftover coffee grounds into upcycled raw materials and a renewable resource full of potential.
The Potential of coffee
The coffee bean has so much value beyond the beverage.
Globally, we consume over 2.25 billion cups of coffee every day.
It’s composed of lipids, phenolics, antioxidants, proteins, fibers, healthy sugars, and other health-promoting compounds. Yet, we throw it away after we’ve extracted just a bit of caffeine and oils.
Caffology Biorefinery is tapping into coffee’s full health potential and reducing the amount of coffee waste ending up in landfills.
Our biorefinery is turning coffee grounds into valuable ingredients for food and beverage producers, personal care products, health products, and nutraceuticals. We’re also producing versatile bioplastic and natural pigment from coffee waste.
A circular economy, a better planet
We’re turning coffee into a circular economy by reducing waste and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions, and making the most of the humble coffee bean.
Caffology Biorefinery recycles spent coffee grounds from responsibly and sustainably sourced coffee suppliers into upcycled raw materials that can be used in consumer goods or manufacturing.
Problem: Linear Economy
8 million tonnes of dried SCG is generated worldwide each year = 5.45 million tonnes of CO2e = 2,080 million liters diesel
Solution: Circular economy
Special thanks to our partners
