Can You Put Coffee Grounds in a Compost Bin?
Yes, absolutely! Coffee grounds add nutrients to your compost and have unbelievable benefits for your garden. Like everything, balance is key; you must strike a balance between your ‘greens’ and your ‘browns’. Coffee is considered ‘green’ waste (even though it’s brown). Here at Better Underground, we’ve found that our daily coffee pucks, combined with household kitchen scraps and dry leaves from the garden, create the perfect balance for great compost.
Benefits of coffee grounds in compost
Coffee grounds add nitrogen, phosphorus, zinc, and iron to the soil. Coffee grounds can also attract earthworms and improve the soil’s water-holding capacity. Mixing coffee grounds with other organic matter, such as manure, sawdust, or organic garden waste, can make a great compost mix.
Coffee grounds have also been known to deter pests such as slugs and snails. Cats have also been known to be deterred due to the smell. Worms are not impacted by coffee grounds, but they work well in the environment to convert organic matter into nutrients.
How to Add Coffee Grounds to Your Compost Bin
The ideal proportion of ground coffee in your compost is between 10 to 20 percent of your total compost volume. Having said this, you can get too tied up in the science of soil, so we’ve found a common-sense approach works best!
Basically, compost is made up of carbon (brown) and nitrogen (green) waste. A ratio of about 4:1 carbon to nitrogen works for us; remember coffee grounds are GREEN waste.
Get to know your compost! It should be moist, like a damp sponge. If it’s too wet, add more carbon (brown waste). If it’s too dry, add more nitrogen (green waste). If it’s smelly, you need oxygen, so give it a turn and add some more carbon. Give your pile a turn once or twice per week to encourage the composting process.
The Best Compost Bin for Coffee Grounds
The perfect bin for composting coffee should have:
- An aerated, removable lid
- Removable coffee knock
- Recycled, durable materials
- Looks cool
Our Coffee Compost Bin is designed exactly for this — 100% recycled plastic, built tough for daily knocking, removable coffee knock and an aerated lid that keeps your coffee compost fresh and odour-free.
Check it out - Better Underground's Coffee Compost Bin
Happy composting! You're saving the planet one coffee at a time.
