Waste-powered start-up hits ground running

SUSTAINABLE start-up GroundUp Coffee Recyclers is marking six months of operation.

Director Eliza Whitburn-Weber founded the initiative which collects bins of coffee grounds and kitchen scraps from hospitality venues across Ballarat, and delivers them to local farms and organisations for composting.

About 250 tonnes of coffee in Ballarat alone usually goes into landfill each year.

GroundUp’s aim is to reduce that volume, by providing waste to growers for composting, which will contribute to the production of food to be supplied back to cafes and restaurants.

The initiative launched with 11 cafes, also known as resource partners, on board and has gained a few more along the way.

“We started off doing fortnightly collections, and now we’re doing bi-weekly collections, especially with the addition of Golden Nugget Bakery as a resource partner late-last year,” Ms Whitburn-Weber said.

“As of this month, we’ve managed to divert 23,000 kilograms of coffee grounds and kitchen scraps, which have gone to local producers to be composted and used in their growing practices, and that’s exceeded what we thought was possible in the first six months.

“The majority of what we collect is taken to Mount Buninyong Winery, but Food is Free and Newington Primary School are also recipients.”

Ms Whitburn-Weber said the more hospitality venues that sign up to provide coffee grounds and scraps, the more producers they will be able to provide compost to.

She praised GroundUp’s resource partners for minimising any risks of contamination, and ensuring only grounds and scraps go in the special bins. Visit groundupcoffeerecyclers.com to get involved.