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Usually, coffee grounds are simply thrown away, but actually these leftovers still have a lot to offer: jus think that a couple of years ago, the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa created a sponge for absorbing heavy metals from water, starting from coffee grounds and silicon.
However, even at home, coffee grounds can have a second life.
Why not try out a few of these creative ways of recycling them?
From beauty treatments for the body to fertilizer for your garden, in this article you will find some handy tips on how to use the leftovers from your mocha.
How to recycle coffee grounds at home
Coffee grounds can become an excellent ally in various housekeeping and free time activities. Here are some ideas:
- You can wet them and rub them on the surfaces to be cleaned, with the help of a sponge, to remove stubborn dirt. Mixed with a little washing up detergent, they can be useful for removing stubborn dirt from saucepans and frying pans;
- Use them as a natural odor absorber or deodorant inside your fridge. Just leave them to dry and put them in a bowl;
- Rub them on your hands to eliminate the smell of fish, garlic and onion;
- You can treat scratches on old furniture in dark wood using coffee grounds together with water by using a paintbrush or an old toothbrush to apply the mix to the surfaces;
- Crumbled coffee grounds can be used for cleaning out that coffee maker that you don’t use very often, you can make one or two coffees to throw away, before preparing the one that you’re going to drink;
- finally, you can use coffee grounds for cleaning your fireplace, thus eliminating the ash and any bad smells.
Dying fabrics using coffee grounds
With coffee grounds it is possible to dye fabrics in a natural way, lending that vintage touch to your wardrobe. In order to do this, you need to know the weight of the fabric to be colored: the ratio is 2.12 – 2.82 oz of coffee grounds per 3.53 oz of fabric.
You will also need some coarse sea salt, to fix the color. Here are the steps to follow:
1. Put the water on to boil in a large saucepan, adding 1 teaspoon of coarse salt for every 33.81 fl oz of water and the coffee grounds. After one hour, turn off the heat and leave to cool;
2. Wash the fabric well;
3. Filter the solution obtained with the coffee grounds, put it back into saucepan with the item to be dyed. Boil on a low heat for a couple of hours;
4. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
Rinse the fabric until it doesn’t lose any more color and leave it to dry away from direct sunlight. From now on this item of clothing must be washed in cold water.
How to use coffee grounds in the garden
If you love looking after your garden and the plants in it, you will find that coffee grounds can be a valuable ally.
Leave them to dry out and mix them with a few carrot seeds before planting them in the ground, for example, or sprinkle them into the vases.
All these tricks will help to keep snails and insects from eating your plants.
Coffee grounds as fertilizer
In the coffee grounds, there are many minerals, such as iron, potassium, nitrogen, and magnesium; so, in the garden you can use them as fertilizer for acid-loving plants, such as azaleas for example.
Sprinkle some coffee grounds in a vase together with the earth before planting your flowers, and they will become very lush.
How to use coffee grounds as body care
One of the most common uses is for creating a face mask.
Mix some dried coffee grounds with a teaspoon of coconut oil.
Apply to the face and leave for 10 minutes, then rinse delicately with tepid water.
Coffee grounds for cellulite
An anti-cellulite treatment made with your own hands and at a really low cost?
It is possible to prepare it using coffee grounds, coconut oil, olive oil and brown sugar.
Mix together the three ingredients and use the mix about twice a week, on the most “critical” areas, wrap the treated areas in cling-film and leave to work for about 15 minutes.
Coffee grounds for your hair
With coffee grounds, you can prepare a mask for your hair if you have brown or black hair, which will help to strengthen it and revive the natural color.
Here’s what you need:
- two spoons of dried coffee grounds;
- three spoons of jojoba oil.
Mix the ingredients together and apply the mask all over your hair, leaving it on for half an hour before rinsing it off and washing your hair.
Scrub made with coffee grounds
Coffee grounds, brown sugar and massage oil are the ingredients you need to make an excellent body scrub.
In a bowl, mix together some coffee grounds, a spoon of sugar and two spoonfuls of oil; the mixture should be left to rest for about 15 minutes before being ready to use.
Massage the preparation onto dry skin as you would with the scrub that you normally use and you will feel how smooth your skin becomes!
Have you ever tried recycling your coffee grounds in these ways?
Do you know of any other ways?
Tell us about them in the comments.