Strattons hotel turns spent coffee into nitrogen-rich compost
Boutique hotel Strattons in Swaffham, Norfolk, has further bolstered its green credentials with an innovative new approach to removing spent coffee grounds from its waste stream.
By naturally drying the grounds and re-bagging it in its original packaging, it can be handed out to guests as a horticultural compost.
This removes the packaging from the hotel's waste stream as well as demonstrates to the gardener the purity and provenance of the beans that this nitrogen-rich compost has.
Restaurant manager Charlie Cousens and head chef Sam Bryant came up with the idea after brainstorming ways to reduce the hotel's waste compost as part of the hotels campaign to involve all stakeholders.
The initiative, which launched in January, has so far proved successful, the hotel said. When coffee compost bags started to mount up, the local allotments were contacted to take the surplus.
Swaffham Community Allotment and Leisure Gardeners' Association (SCALGA) was so impressed with the researched properties of coffee grounds that they wanted more: head of the association Christine Wright went to other cafés in the town to see if they were willing to pass their grounds on as well.
Since February more than 800kg have been collected from Swaffham.
Cousens is trying to take this further and has contacted Andy Harrison, the chief executive of Whitbread and Costa coffee, in an effort to persuade him to roll out the scheme throughout the group.
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By Janie Manzoori-Stamford
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