- ☕ Cafés
- 🍽️ Restaurants
- 🏨 Hotels
- ♻️ Circular economy
Have you ever wondered how many kilos of spent coffee grounds your business produces each month? For a busy café, the figure can easily reach 150 to 300 kg.
Most café and restaurant owners throw these grounds into the general waste bin. What they may not realise is that, in doing so, they are quite literally throwing money away.
In today’s business environment, waste management is not just a matter of environmental conscience: it is also an operating cost. Let’s look at how recycling your coffee grounds can benefit your bottom line directly.
At a glance
- Wet coffee grounds are among the heaviest waste a café produces, and they bulk up your rubbish.
- Greek Law 4819/2021 requires food-service businesses to collect bio-waste separately. Coffee Pellet makes this simple.
- For €150 a year, with up to 4 free shipments a year via BOX NOW, you receive a collection certificate and the “Green Member” badge.
- 150–300 kgof coffee grounds a month in a busy café
- €150annual membership, covering the whole year
- €0shipping cost for your BOX NOW shipments
- 4free shipments a year
Three benefits for your bottom line and your image
Less, lighter waste (the “Pay-As-You-Throw” principle)
Greek Law 4819/2021 on waste management promotes the “Pay-As-You-Throw” principle and, in Article 22, requires food-service businesses to ensure the separate collection of their bio-waste. Wet coffee grounds are extremely heavy: when they end up in municipal bins, they add to the weight and cost of waste collection.
By taking coffee grounds out of your mixed waste through certified recycling, you drastically reduce the volume and weight of your rubbish and meet your obligation for separate collection.
💡 Where your municipality operates a “Pay-As-You-Throw” scheme or offers discounts to businesses that recycle, the collection certificate helps you apply for a reduction in municipal charges. Terms vary from one municipality to another, so check with your own municipality’s waste/cleansing department.Official documentation and less red tape
Waste legislation is becoming ever stricter. With a certified coffee recycling programme, you receive an official Collection Certificate at the end of the year: proof that your bio-waste was collected separately and put to use.
If your business is required to file an annual return with the Greek Electronic Waste Registry (HMA), your accountant simply uses this document. If not, you keep it as evidence in case of an inspection.
The “eco-branding” advantage
Today’s consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, consciously choose businesses that respect the environment. Being a “Zero Waste” business is not just a trend: it is one of the best marketing tools there is.
A sustainability badge in your window shows customers that the coffee they pay for goes back to nature instead of polluting it.
How much coffee do you throw away? Work it out
Before and after Coffee Pellet
Today
- Heavy bags in the general bin every day
- No proof of separate bio-waste collection
- Coffee ends up in landfill, producing methane
- Nothing to tell your customers
With Coffee Pellet
- Less volume and weight in your mixed waste
- An official Collection Certificate at the end of the year
- Coffee becomes biofuel and cleaning products
- A “Zero Waste – Green Member” badge for your window
The solution: become a “Green Member” of the Coffee Pellet programme
How do you achieve all this without adding to your staff’s workload? The environmental organisation Clean Hands (Kathara Cheria) created the Coffee Pellet programme. For an annual membership of €150, your business joins the circular economy in four simple steps:
- You collectTip your coffee grounds into the special Coffee Boxes we provide, right next to the espresso machine.
- You ship for freeDrop the box at any BOX NOW locker that suits you, at any time. No appointments; up to 4 free shipments a year.
- We transform itYour coffee becomes coffeepellet™ (an eco-friendly biofuel) and natural cleaning products, which are donated to social-care facilities for vulnerable people.
- You benefitYou receive the Collection Certificate and the “Zero Waste – Green Member” badge for your premises.
“The coffee you serve in the morning can heat a home in winter and clean a social-care facility. As long as you don’t throw it away.”
Don’t let your coffee go to waste
Turn a cost into a benefit, raise your business’s profile and become part of the solution.
- ✓ 4 free BOX NOW shipments a year
- ✓ Collection Certificate
- ✓ Badge for your window
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost and what’s included?
The annual membership is €150. It includes the Coffee Boxes, up to 4 free shipments a year via BOX NOW, the recycling of your coffee grounds, the Collection Certificate at the end of the year and the “Green Member” badge.
Will my municipal charges definitely go down?
It depends on your municipality. Waste-collection charges and any discounts for businesses that recycle are set by each municipality’s own decision. The Collection Certificate is the document you need in order to apply. What you gain in every case is less, lighter waste.
Do I need to file a return with the Electronic Waste Registry (HMA)?
Not every food-service business is required to. Ask your accountant. If you are required to, the Collection Certificate is the document you will need. If not, you keep it as proof of separate bio-waste collection.
How much of my staff’s time will it take?
Very little. The grounds go into the Coffee Box instead of the bin, and when the box is full you drop it at the nearest BOX NOW locker, whenever it suits you.
What happens to my coffee grounds?
They are turned into coffeepellet™, an eco-friendly biofuel, and into natural cleaning products. These are donated to social-care facilities for vulnerable people.
Support our work
Our products are made with respect for the environment in our workshop in Sklithro, Florina.
This article is for information only and is not legal or tax advice. For municipal charges, check with your municipality; for Electronic Waste Registry (HMA) obligations, ask your accountant.
