A new recycling plant in Amsterdam will turn used coffee grounds into cosmetics
Amsterdam will soon have a coffee recycling biorefinery that will turn used coffee grounds into ingredients for face creams, shampoos, and more.
Coffee recycling plant comes to Amsterdam
Amsterdam will soon be getting a coffee recycling plant that will take spent coffee grounds and turn them into products for the beauty and textile industries. Caffe Inc, backed by the City of Amsterdam’s Amsterdam Climate and Energy Fund, is building the €4million 100% circular recycling plant.
Given how much coffee we drink, only 1% of the coffee bean is used to make coffee, and the 99% is waste. In the Netherlands alone, that amounts to 250,000 tons of coffee waste.
Caffe Inc, founded by Evaluna Marquez (above, left) and Josephine Nijstad (right), saw an opportunity to turn this everyday waste to produce circular and natural ingredients. Caffe Inc produces high quality oils that can be used in shampoo and soaps, natural coffee colourants for textiles and coffee blocks for biomaterials. When the Caffe Inc factory is fully operational it will save carbon dioxide emissions equal to the amount 75,000 trees can absorb in a year.
“We want to act on a sustainable future and not only talk about it," said Nijstad. "Coffee is something everyone can relate to. By making the circular case for coffee waste we want to inspire others to start working towards a circular economy."
Circular initiatives in Amsterdam
More and more companies in the Amsterdam Area are pursuing circular initiatives: reusing, refining and upcycling waste into valuable resources. Recent examples include Brightfiber Textiles’ plans to build a 100% circular textile factory, and Gidara Energy’s ambition for a circular biofuel plant at the Port of Amsterdam.
“The creation of the coffee recycling plant of Caffe Inc perfectly fits into the circular strategy of the City of Amsterdam. Initiatives like this assist the city in achieving its ambition to become one of the leading circular hubs in Europe,” said City of Amsterdam Alderman Marieke van Doorninck.