Research suggests that almost 85% of adults in the USA drink coffee on a regular basis. Even so, the vast majority simply toss out their used coffee grounds, without a second thought. Whether using a classic drip coffee pot or the latest Keurig K Cup coffee maker, you could be letting a surprisingly useful commodity go to waste.
Recycling Keurig K Cups used with your Keurig coffee maker usually means removing the used coffee grounds beforehand. Grounds that usually go straight down the sink or in the trash, but can actually be put to use in a variety of ways. From everyday supermarket staples to the best Kona coffee Hawaii produces, it simply makes sense to get the most for your money.
With this in mind, here are 5 things you can do with the spent coffee grounds in your Keurig single serve coffee pods:
1) Plant Food
First up, used coffee grounds contain a generous dose of all the goodies your plant needs to perform at its best. In particular, tomato plants have been shown to flourish when coffee grounds are added to their compost. It costs nothing, and it could pay dividends when the time comes to harvest your home-grown veggies.
2) Natural Insecticide
As an added bonus, certain pests (like snails and slugs) are naturally discouraged from devouring plants that have been doused in coffee. Or in this instance, plants surrounded by soil with a generous concentration of used coffee grounds. If you’re fed up with watching your hard work being laid to waste by hungry pests, your old K Cup pods contain the only organic insecticide you will ever need.
3) Odor Absorber
Everyone loves the smell of fresh coffee, but you might not realize that spent coffee grounds can also be a highly effective odor absorber. If you normally keep a track of baking soda (or something similar in your fridge, try swapping it out for an equal quantity of coffee grounds. Along with getting to work absorbing and neutralizing unpleasant odors, the grounds will add a subtle yet noticeable coffee fragrance to the inside of your fridge.
4) Anti-Garlic Handwash
Exactly why this works is a mystery to us, but it does. Next time you find yourself dealing with the lingering smell of garlic on your hands, try adding a handful of coffee grounds to a squeeze of handwash. Give your hands a good wash with this DIY exfoliant, rinse well, and voila – no more garlic smell!
5) Body Scrub
Last but not least, the web is awash with surprisingly simple recipes for turning old Keurig K Cup coffee into a fantastic organic body scrub. The coarseness of old coffee grounds is often ideal for exfoliating the skin and assisting the absorption of moisturizing products. It’s also loaded with essential antioxidants, which could do your skin a world of good during the cooler months of the year.
Click here to learn more about our fresh roasted Kona coffee, the most precious Hawaiian coffee, considered by many to be among the best coffee beans in the world, and now also available as coffee pods compatible with Keurig single serve coffee maker (including Keurig 2.0 models)*. Order now, we offer free worldwide shipping!
* Keurig and K-Cup are registered trademarks of Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. unrelated to Hayman®. Our pods are not created or sold by Keurig®.