Free coffee grounds for your beds

Hi, guys. A little news on Starbuck's. Now if you're all ready to boo and hiss, kick back crackerjack. I, too, really disliked the company....until a few years ago, when I discovered all of the cool stuff they do around the globe, including the promotion of Fair Trade products and the support to small roasting businesses in the U.S.

Anyway, I had dinner last night with a friend who directs their PR, and she gave me yet another reason to stand and cheer for the Green Monster. Apparently, we can walk into any Starbuck's and get free coffee grounds for our gardens. Just go up to the counter and ask for it. I'm stoked to try the next time I hanker for a latte!

best,
kim

Yep! They're great for giving coffee grounds away!

Yes, that's been their policy for a while. Wish I had one nearby. Still never tried their coffee though. Can't stand the smell. And their support for local roasters doesn't help the local coffee shops they put out of business all over the country!

Small coffee shop owner in Middletown America or coffee farmer with a few acres in an underdeveloped country....If I had to pick one to help, I'd go for the latter, but that's just me. ;)

I'd go for the latte. ^_^

All last summer I got coffee grounds from Starbucks. I got 3 bags this spring and now there are none. I went and asked every day for two weeks and no grounds. I even bought an iced coffee so I was a customer - didn't help a bit. I'm so disappointed.

Someone else had already beat you to them?

I don't think so. They had told me that before when they didn't have any. It is just strange - I think that I have given up on them. And I hate their iced coffee!

It's supposed to be a company wide policy.

I know, it is just strange. Last year I literally mulched with coffee grounds. I even put a buck in the tip jar this year to encourage them.

What reason did they give?

No reason - they just didn't have any for 9 days in a row.

Ahhh, Starbucks! The aroma... the flavor! Just knowing that dozens of experts are scouring the world for the best coffee beans to make my cup of coffee that much better! Good to know they are trying to help the enviroment by giving out free grounds for gardeners!

... Of course I grind and brew my own, but it's good to know they do that! ☺

I didn't know that either... might have to go check our local places out.... my azaleas and rodies love coffee grids... I usually save them in an old container and then go dump when I get enough ... I was never really into the coffee... I usually make mine at home... but it's worth the trip to check it out that's for sure

Starbucks encourage their owner managers to give it away. They do not demand. That brings it down to a local decision. Most do make coffee grounds available.

I find more and with less difficulty by asking my local smaller home town shops. There I usually can get a five gallon bucket full anytime I take in the bucket and leave it for a day or two. They too have others asking for grounds but they tend to support their regular trade when ask.

When I was younger I had a local Dunkins that gave me six to seven five gallon buckets full every morning. That was when I got real serious about building compost like tons of it adding coffee grounds, grass clippings, leaves, peanut shells, half composted wood waste, pea shells from a food processing plant and spoiled hay along with ample manures. I had no trouble finding and getting all of that waste and more. Trailer loads were just a few grunts beyond the buckets. One neighbor was a waitress who brought me a bucket a day in return for two batches of aerobic tea which took me literally no time to produce from such a good compost resource. A local small vermicomposting hobby person swaps casts for a barrel of worm cast aerobic tea in return. My cost to make compost tea in the aerobic form is about ten cents a gallon for the extras I add in including an estimated dollars worth of electric to make it.

My point is that there is tons of material out there. You have but to look and ask. Most are pleased to see it used instead of paying to send it to the landfill. Anything is good that will rot in a mixed material pile. None of it will cause a problem if you give it just a little attention and keep the brown to green mix about ten to one. Ten buckets of leaves with a bucket of poops and a bucket of green grass clippings is a rough ballance. Time and learned skills will do the rest for you.

Excellent advice, and compost 'recipe'! Thanks.