Caffè Nero Partners with Bio-bean to Turn Coffee Waste into Bioenergy

Coffee chain Caffè Nero has announced its plans to recycle coffee grounds from its London stores to make coffee logs, which can be used in boilers and woodburners.

The scheme sees recycling specialists First Mile pick up coffee waste from Caffè Nero stores and take it directly to Bio-bean's Cambridgeshire factory to be turned into coffee logs. The company can also turn the waste coffee into biomass pellets. By July 2017, Caffè Nero approximates it will have recycled 218 tons of used coffee grounds into 98 tons of biomass pellets, producing enough fuel to heat 435 homes for a year.

The coffee giant said its partnership with First Mile allows the waste to be transported directly to Bio-bean, rather than via an intermediary depot, helping to avoid 125,000 road miles during the first year of the scheme.

Aside from production of coffee logs and biomass pellets, Bio-bean is also working on a system to turn the oils from coffee waste in to biodiesel. One ton of coffee waste could produce enough renewable fuel to fill four cars.