disposing of coffee grounds

[peridito]

do you wash them down the sink ?

I don't because I think they may cause a blockage .But emptying the cafetiere is so messy and I get grounds everywhere .

I'm doing something wrong .

Ours go into our small food compost bin,before going out in our food/garden waste bin.

Do you have a garden? I often add water and swish it into a flower bed

Our local Costa bags up the grounds for composting/gardening.

Compost heap

Round the hostas to keep the slugs away

Don't put them down the sink - you will end up with a blockage

Food waste bin

No they go in the food waste caddy.

I always think I could find an amazing use for them though. We did try saving them to burn on the wood burner (our machine compacts them into little briquettes) but they went mouldy .

I have vague memories of Cindy Crawford rubbing them into her thighs in the nineties (anti-cellulite?) so might try that next.

Mine go on the compost heap.

I brew in a cafetière

Afterwards, I add some water, sloosh it round and sling it on the garden.

Never down the sink

We put ours on the garden too. Well that's the plan, dh is collecting them all so who knows

I put mine around my plants to deter the slugs.

Apparently plants love it, my neighbour found out by accident and now asks local coffee shops for their coffee grounds for gardening use

I use a filter machine and i lift out the paper filter containing the grounds and put it in the food waste bin

Coffee grounds are great for acid loving plants like blueberries and hydrangeas, but can stunt the growth of many other plants,

Mine go into the waste bin.

I use an WordPress so the coffee grounds pop out in a compacted disc which goes in the bin (I don't have a garden).

Aeropress not WordPress!!!

I'm in an upstairs flat .I do put them in the food waste bin .

It's the putting that I find tricky! I rinse out the cafetiere into a sieve and then knock the sieve into the food waste bin .Then I rinse the sieve out .

How do others do it without getting grounds everyehere ?

We basically do that OP, except instead of a sieve we use the basket filter from our filter machine (we don't use it in the machine, we use paper filters). Then we leave that over a tub to dry out, at which point it's much easier to transfer them to the recycling bin.

@Spam88 aah I think you have nailed the flaw in my method - not letting the grounds drain and dry out before disposal !

I'm so obsessed that I bought a metal flour sifter ,removed the trigger action bit ,to use instead of the sieve which was too wide .

My sink is a single bowl one ,I use a washing up bowl and try and strain the grounds between the plastic bowl and the sink and can't bear the grounds getting all over the bowl and sink .

Ho hum ,wonder how they manage in refugee camps

metal flour sifter

me ? Trying to delay starting all the irksome and exhausting tasks that await me ? No......

I have a bean to cup machine and have just been putting the coffee grounds in the bin even though we have a blueberry bush.

I have quite a heavy coffee habit, I'm assuming there is an upper limit on how much coffee the blueberry bush would appreciate, or should I put it all on?

@teyem I would ask over here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening

I'm not entirely sure that used grounds affect the acid levels of soil

^Fresh coffee grounds are acidic. Used coffee grounds are neutral. If you rinse your used coffee grounds, they will have a near neutral pH of 6.5 and will not affect the acid levels of the soil. To use coffee grounds as fertilizer, work the coffee grounds into the soil around
your plants^.

Used coffee grounds for gardening does not end with compost. Many people choose to place coffee grounds straight onto the soil and use it as a fertilizer. The thing to keep in mind is while coffee grounds add nitrogen to your compost, they will not immediately add nitrogen to your soil. The benefit of using coffee grounds as a fertilizer is that it adds organic material to the soil, which improves drainage, water retention and aeration in the soil. The used coffee grounds will also help microorganisms beneficial to plant growth thrive as well as attract earthworms. Many people feel that coffee grounds lower the pH (or raise the acid level) of soil, which is good for acid loving plants. But this is only true for unwashed coffee grounds

www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/ingredients/coffee-grounds-gardening.htm

Wow, that's great, thanks peridito. I've got awful clay soil that is hard work so, even if it doesn't nudge the pH, it looks like it could be useful.

I can't post on the gardening board, I'd be completely out of my depth.

Apparently you can also use them to make an exfoliating scrub!