:strip_icc()/bhg-starbucks-grounds-garden-11723025-c19627bbb1124312ab2b92e12948b26f.png?ssl=1 "You Can Get Free Coffee Grounds from Starbucks (and Your Plants Will Thank You)")
Key Takeaways
- Starbucks’ Grounds for Your Garden program offers free used coffee grounds to reduce waste and promote sustainable gardening.
- Since the initiative varies by store, check with your barista about how it works before you try grabbing a bag.
- Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen and other nutrients, making them a valuable addition to compost piles.
Coffee grounds aren’t just for jumpstarting your day—they can also give your garden a boost. An ingredient that you likely already have on hand, spent grounds are ideal for adding to plants that need an extra dose of nitrogen, and they can also make an addition to your compost bin.
If you’re not a coffee drinker (or need more grounds than you can collect yourself), Starbucks is the place to go. Every day, a single store can go through hundreds of pounds of coffee grounds, which will all be binned. In order to reduce this waste, Starbucks started the Grounds for Your Garden program, which means that you can take their used coffee grounds for your own backyard—for free.
How to Use the Grounds for Your Garden Program
Participating stores in the U.S. will fill old Starbucks espresso bean bags with spent coffee grounds and give them to you, no charge. In some cases, social media users have reported that their café gave them a whole lot more than just one bag—one Reddit user reported that they took home 100 pounds of compost from their nearest Starbucks.
To find out whether your local stores will offer you their compost, visit them in person or give them a call. Each operates differently: Some will only hand out small bags of compost, others will allow you to take an entire bag, and then there are some that don’t participate in the program. Senior editor Emily Williams noticed her café in Lawrence, Kansas, started filling a bucket by the door with grounds for customers to take with them on their way out. Also keep in mind that certain stores may ask you to bring your own bag or bin to fill, according to some customers.
Why You Should Choose Coffee Grounds for Your Compost
Brewed coffee grounds are a must-have for your compost pile because they contain so much nitrogen. As the coffee is brewed, the acidity is removed from the grounds, leaving behind the nitrogen-rich grounds that your plants will love. Spent grounds also feature a few other key nutrients and vitamins, such as potassium and calcium. In some cases, coffee grounds might even deter slugs from visiting your plants when used as a soil top layer.
According to experts, coffee grounds offer the most benefits when they’re used for compost. Add it to your bin along with other everyday compostable items to help you achieve a rich, organic fertilizer within a couple of months.
The Grounds for Your Garden program has been running since 1995, and it’s available in Starbucks stores all across the globe. If your local store has grounds available, they’re first come first serve, so show up as soon as you can to grab your own bag.