How Coffee Grounds Can Upgrade Your Compost Pile

It's easy to think your coffee grounds are useless after making your daily coffee. Instead of throwing them out (or dropping coffee grounds down the garbage disposal, which you should never do)

there are several non-caffeinating methods to repurpose them. Making compost is a sustainable technique to return food leftovers to the soil, adding nutrients. By adding coffee grounds, you reduce waste and improve compost quality.

Not all leftover food makes a good pile. Meat should never go in compost. However, used coffee can add nitrogen to your compost, helping it break down.  

In fact, nitrogen fertilizers are recommended for pile decomposition. Coffee alone won't accomplish the job, but it can help. When mixed with water, coffee grounds' caffeine may repel slugs and snails.

Coffee grounds in compost sparingly Coffee grounds in your compost pile have many benefits and prevent you from wasting more coffee, but there are some things to consider. If you drink coffee daily, don't throw the grounds on the mud.

"Browns"—carbon or carbohydrates—and "greens," protein and nitrogen (like coffee grounds), are needed in a successful pile. Compost containing too much nitrogen may heat up too quickly, so aim for a 4:1 brown-to-green ratio.  

Coffee isn't the only nitrogen-infusing component; soil bacteria will use it up. Use leftover fruit and vegetables, eggshells, or nitrogen fertilizer. If you want to sparingly put your grounds to compost

you can use garden piles and indoor composters. Simply sprinkle them on top and blend. For daily coffee drinkers, we've found nine more ways to use leftover coffee grounds so you never have to waste them.

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