The Surprising Way Coffee Waste is Being Used to Replace Plastic

Hello and welcome to the Conscious Design Podcast. I'm your host, Ian Peterman, and I help turn product ideas into sustainable 7-figure businesses. Join me for another episode where sustainability meets innovation and business savvy. Today, I'm excited to have Ricardo Garcia. He's the co-founder and CEO of Coffee Crace, where they transform recycled coffee grounds into sustainable, reusable compostable consumer products like coffee cups. I love the circularity of taking coffee grounds to make coffee cups. Before we dive too much onto that, let's go back in time and how did this all start?

Sure. Well, so both my wife and myself, we're both Colombians. And so as good Colombians, we love coffee. We grew up with coffee. We have it in our DNA, in our veins. And so we always wondered what happened, what happens with the coffee waste, right? After we drink our morning coffee. And during the pandemic, while being stuck at home, we just started seeing all this waste after we brewed our morning coffee. And so we started wondering, well, what happens at a coffee shop level or what happens hotel, restaurant levels? And so we started reaching out to them. To understand how they manage the waste, what happened to their coffee after a daily basis and a weekly basis. And so that's where we understood that around 99% of these coffee grounds are just treated as waste. And by waste, that means that it turns up into the landfills where, you know, it generates methane emissions into the environment. And basically the whole cycle continues. And so we decided to, well, let's recycle these used coffee grounds, but what can we make with the used coffee grounds? And so the first idea that came to mind is, well, what's better than drinking coffee in a cup made out of coffee? And so that's how we started our whole idea, our whole project of researching the materials, just basically understanding the process, the capabilities of coffee waste. And there are many, many, many, many things that we can do with coffee waste. And so we just decided to start with coffee cups. However, our goal or long-term vision is to make more products with coffee waste and basically replace anything that is currently made out of just conventional plastics with our materials within different industries, not only within the coffee industry.

I love that. Yeah, coffee. There's so much coffee grounds. As you, I know, You guys drink coffee. America, we've adopted coffee as a massive, massive intake, right? And that waste is a huge amount of waste that gets generated by it. So it's a, it's a great thing to tackle. It's a very, it's a very big problem to go after. So I love that you guys decided that this is what you're going to go after. I've heard of some, some other people tackling Coffee or using coffee as more of like a filler. So I'm curious, how does your material— because it doesn't sound like yours is just a light filler in some other material. So I'd love if you could dive into how— what goes into your coffee material? How are you able to take the grounds that we all know and turn it into something that— can actually hold coffee and not just disintegrate.

Yeah, yeah. That actually was, I guess, one of the toughest parts for us, you know, understanding the material, understanding its strengths or what we could actually do with coffee waste. And so during our testing or, you know, our prototyping of the product, basically, we decided to use a compostable bioresin, which gives many properties that we needed to the final product, such as being heat resistant, being durable, being able to also compose the final product at the end of its lifecycle. And so we use— we combine this compostable bioresin with our coffee waste, which is not only coffee waste, but we also treat it. We have a proprietary process once we recycle the coffee waste in order to be able to be transformed and combined with our, our compostable bioresin. However, that may not be the case for other products. This is just the requirements basically for a coffee cup, so it may change in the near future, but that's basically how we use it right now.

And so your whole— because you're using that biodegradable resin and In combination with this, it's a fully compostable product, right? It actually fully dissolves when it's supposed to. How does this fall into disposable? Is it long-term? And I know there's more and more of these segmentations of, you know, there kind of used to be, it's basically permanent or it's really, really short lifespan, right? And now, as we're making different biodegradable materials, we're starting to get into kind of these middle ranges where it's, yeah, it's not going to last 100 years, but it'll last 10 years, 15 years. Where does this material fall in for you guys?

That is correct. So it will fall under that middle range that you just mentioned. So it's a reusable product that will— that has the same properties as just any reusable product out there, and it would just compost or degrade when it's put under the composting conditions, right? Mainly industrial composting conditions with the right amount of oxygen, temperature, and all that stuff. And it may last for several years, right? Also depends on the use and the care that is given, depending on, you know, if it's used in the dishwasher on a daily basis or a couple times a day, if it's an industrial dishwasher with with higher temperatures or a commercial dishwasher or a home dishwasher, I'm sorry, with lower temperatures. So it really depends on the care of the product, but it may last for many, many years. It won't probably last, you know, 100 years because it's not the goal, but it will last enough for someone to reuse it enough to make a positive impact in the environment by replacing, you know, all the single-use plastics.

Yeah, I think it's an important space, that middle ground. What you're talking about is, You know, you're making it because kind of the goal is, right, our— what we like, what we want to use, all these things. We don't all want something to last 100, 200 years. Like, that's an option, but this middle ground of make it reusable. So I love it. You can, you can use it more than once. It's not just gonna fall apart after one use, but you're still You're kind of limiting that throwaway mentality, but it's also easy to get rid of when you're talking about being compostable. And it's not just, it's not just trash at the end or something that gets thrown away instead of being recycled.

Exactly. And that's part of what we also want to, we also want to educate people around how to not only use the product and reuse it, but also how to what would happen at the end of its life cycle, which is basically composting or returning the products back to us so we can reprocess it and turn it into new products and, you know, new materials. So, so it really, you know, depends on the education that particular customer receives, and it's something that we emphasize a lot and try to promote and incentivize them to give them a a good use after its lifecycle.

I love that idea of being able to— you guys are actually able to take it back and be able to use it again. That's a good feature to have. I would imagine, right, because you're in that middle ground space where we don't have as consumers, the average consumer isn't like we can readily know, you know, as a single use, we know what that is. We throw it away when we're done. And, you know, the mug that your grandparents bought, that thing lasts forever as long as you don't shatter it. But it's a different behavior set for this in-between where, hey, it's gonna last. It could last you years depending on how you use it and take care of it, but it's not permanent. It's not— gotta think a little bit about that end of life. How—

Right.

A question then is really, how are you helping to educate people? What's the Is it a big hurdle? Is it something that is pretty quick? Like, how have you seen consumers reacting to this little bit of a different lifecycle of a product?

Yeah, that's a great question. And we've received very positive reactions in terms not only of the product, the idea, our company, but also about the education. We try to always share our— the best way to use our product in social media or through our website and try to share as much information as we can. It's really important for people to understand what's behind the product, right? Not only how cool or fun it may be, but also what's behind it and how you can make a positive impact by using it. And it's a hurdle, definitely. It's not an easy task, but it's something that it's in our DNA as well and something that we want to change people's mindset and how to buy a product, what kind of products to buy and how to use it and how to dispose of it. Also, something that we are implementing and we can expand a little bit more in this in a couple minutes is our business models, right? So something that we're doing currently is a subscription program along with our partners where these partners, which may be coffee shops, incentivize their customers to subscribe to a program where they get a cup and they can reuse. and also get additional incentives from that particular coffee shop. So it's kind of a combination between loyalty program versus single-use cup reduction on the coffee shop. So programs like that help us to change the mindset of reusing and not utilizing single-use products.

And does that make it easier because you're able to take those cups back? If you're in a pro— creating a program like that, does that give you a better, I would imagine it gives you a better path. If somebody's like, oh, it's starting to fall apart, they could bring it in and you would actually be able to collect those. Is that, does that work that way? Is that kind of helping that? Because I would imagine you need, if you want to reuse all those, you need a nice way to get all those back to you.

Exactly. Exactly. That is, that is 100% right. So also that helps us to collect those broken cups or those cups that, you know, people are returning with that same coffee shop. And that way we're not only getting one cup from a customer that bought one year ago, but we can get X amount of cups, you know, hundreds of cups that the coffee shop has kept for us basically from his, or, you know, from their customers basically. So that also helps us to collect as most as we can, then transform those cups more efficiently as well.

How? Because typically compostable, at least my understanding of compostable, it doesn't usually recycle really well, but you are able to actually, in a way, you kind of have 2 options. You could compost it or you're able to actually recycle it as well. I'm curious, I don't know how much you can share, but what can you share about how is that What makes this material unique? Because usually you have to pick one or the other, and you're able to pick both.

Yep, that is correct. So it really depends, as you said, on the kind of material. We made sure from the beginning, as one of our requirements was to be able to recycle and turn it into new products, to use materials that had that capability as well. And so the compostable bioresin, that's a Standalone material has that ability. Coffee waste has that ability as well, just as a standalone material, and then combined as well. Of course, there are certain engineering requirements when breaking down the product or when recycling that and combining it with a new batch of materials. Not 100% of that could be— could go into a new batch, but just a certain percentage, and then you just need to split it up in different manufacturing batches. But there's the possibility, and that's something that we also encourage people to, you know, return their cups and we'll take care of the rest.

I love that. I think it's, 'cause it's one of the things like recycling, especially when you have that way of getting it back, right? You're creating these subscription models where someone can use it, bring it back to the coffee shop, get a new one, right? That there's such an opportunity for recycling. And I know there's people on both sides. There's some, they're like, everything should be compostable, everything should be recycled. Like, but I love that you have that versatility because it's, You've already spent the time to make that material useful. You've made it into something you can mold and you can actually produce a product. So to me, if you can recycle it, that's a great energy savings, of course. And then, you know, for the ones that do, you're at home and you get it broken now, you can also biodegrade it and it doesn't just go to waste. So it's a good, I guess, congratulations on figuring that out because that's, I feel like there's a huge opportunity for making materials like that.

Yeah.

It saves a lot of resources being able to choose both of those. So you mentioned other products. So I'm curious if this material, does it really matter? Are you using the same? Because you already have a few products, right? You have your cup. I think you're pre-orders right now for a travel mug. Is it all the same? Like, does it, are you starting to develop different Types of your material?

Yeah, so for this range of products that we currently have available, and the travel mug as well, which it's in the works, it's the same basically material. But then when it comes to new products or different products for X other industry, the materials of course will change as the requirements will change. At the moment, we are starting to develop a new combination of materials. Again, same with our recycled coffee grounds, for a different purpose. I can't talk much about it because it's still in development, but it's something very exciting which will also, you know, propel our current products and will also help the environment. That's our goal, is to, you know, replace and reduce all the single-use plastics for the coffee industry. So it's still in the works, more to come there. But yeah, we're, we're working on a different material composition for new products.

Hey, it's Ian here. So glad you're enjoying this episode of Conscious Design. If you want the full scoop on Conscious Design, what it is, how we do it, how you can do it, then check out our book. We wrote it so creative entrepreneurs like you can code social and environmental responsibility right into your brand's DNA. You can download the first chapter for free. Link is in the description. Enjoy the rest of the episode. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. There's different products inside the coffee world, of course. Is there any immediate areas that are close to that that you're thinking about going into? Or you mentioned single-use, right? The food industry, that's a massive single-use. There's a lot of single-use products, right? Is that single-use really, is that your focus on replacing first, or is there other uses that you've you've thought of or had people approach you for, for a material kind of in this midlife life range?

Yeah, so, well, actually our main focus is in replacing single-use products, whether it be with a reusable product or, you know, with single-use products as well, but with our materials that can be composted or not having any petroleum-based plastics. So that's our main focus right now. We've also explored or had conversations with different companies within the cosmetics industry or the automotive industry to start exploring materials to provide them with solutions. For the cosmetics industry, for example, there's also a lot of single-use for many of your products. And, you know, it's an industry that usually or has always been using conventional plastics. So by implementing providing them with solutions, more sustainable solutions basically as ours, we'll be solving as well a huge problem. And when it comes to automotive industry or many other different industries, it's more as how we could innovate and reduce as well the use of conventional plastics.

Yeah, I love the idea of going into cosmetics. I've worked in that space a bit and there's There's so many single-use, or not even single, low-lifespan containers and other products like that, that, you know, if it lasted 10 years, that'd be probably empty, right? You've used everything inside the container already. So, you know, it really only needs to last a couple of years. So I love the idea of—

Exactly.

You know, take this product and be able to put mascara or something like that in it. And then it biodegrades in a few years. For biodegrading, and I've learned I have to actually—

Exactly.

Know this for products, there's a difference between industrial biodegrading and composting, and then there's backyard, and there's a little bit of rainbow between. Where does your product fall? Is it something that's industrial, or can I actually just throw it in the dirt And wait a year or so and it disappears.

So at the moment, it's industrial, and that also depends mainly because of the design of the product. As your product, it's very thick, very sturdy, it makes it difficult to compost home compost, basically. So it has to be industrial. However, we have the capability of manufacturing or developing products that can be home composted as well. And we can also improve our own materials to be able to compost our current products and be able to be home composted. So there's definitely a lot to work on that area, but as of right now, our products are only— can only be industrial composted. And then, you know, there's opportunity to— room for improvement basically for new products to make it more easier for customers to compost it rather than, you know, going to an industrial composting facility, which it's difficult as well sometimes for many people, because depending on their location, there may or may not be industrial composting facilities. So it's still, you know, something that is in progress. And I guess that our, you know, each state is working on improving it, but we try to always make it easier for customers and easier for the environment as well.

Yeah, it's one of those areas, industrial, I feel like it's chicken and egg, right? Where there's not very many facilities or not everybody has access to it, but there's also not enough products getting produced to make it worth investing in those. So I think it's one of those more and more companies like you, as you, as you come out and go, hey, we're producing a product that can be composted, you can actually do that. That will help get states and cities to— really think that it's a valuable investment to add if they don't already have it. Well, if you're starting to have enough waste that could be composted, then it becomes really worthwhile. So I think it's good to be pushing that because we need more of those options. And it's also, I love being able to backyard compost stuff. Like, that's great for environment, but it's also, I would imagine it would be very hard to do a fully backyard compostable product that's supposed to hold hot coffee. Like, that's, uh, a lot more than your dirt has to survive outside. So it's—

Yeah, I—

it's definitely a good middle ground, I feel like. Yeah, yeah. Kind of looking forward, I know that you're wanting to get into more products, right? You're going to be replacing, and you're working, you're working on even more variants of your material, right? Right now, I guess you're mostly focused on coffee. I'm curious about, you know, your relationship with coffee shops and kind of that subscription. Is it something that you're— is that going to expand product-wise in the coffee space? And how is that relationship? How's it been, the feedback of coffee shops? How is that kind of part of your business model going?

Yes, it's going great. We are creating more and more partnerships with coffee shops around the world, not only because of the story or the marketing that it can provide for coffee shops or establishments, whether it be a hotel or restaurant, but also because as regulations and laws continue to be created, there's a need for these kinds of products. And so the feedback has been great. We have different models for them, for example, the subscription program. Is being only implemented in Europe at the moment, just because of regulations, culture as well. And then in the US, we're mainly focusing on having the products as merch or used as a dining option for the coffee shop to be able to tell a story or to provide a unique customer experience. But for Europe, for instance, where there are many regulations around single-use plastics, we're targeting the subscription program, to be able to replace the takeaway single-use cups. So it differs, and we're also trying to expand to more and more coffee shops around the world with different systems and always taking into account what happens in that particular market or country and being able to help them accomplish their KPIs or their goals as well.

Yeah, I know Europe is going— didn't they just pass some new stuff that's supposed to roll out over the next few years making a really big impact on plastic use and greenhouse emissions goals and things like that. So I would imagine that this is a really, really great alternative to be able to shave off some of those things and be able to match regulation. It's really interesting though, that you mentioned the 2 different models you have. I was thinking that the model of subscription might work in the US. But it sounds like we're, I mean, we are a little bit more purchase heavy rather than something like that. So do you think that that subscription model will transfer over or is this like a, are you seeing this as like a full split? Like you're, you may not be able to do that here in the States.

Yeah, our goal is to, to have it available in the States as well. And not only for coffee shops, but we see a lot of opportunity within universities as well, for example. There's a lot of, you know, students grabbing coffee on a daily basis, and usually it's always, you know, single-use cups. So what about, you know, if we replace that with our subscription program? But we are actually— the subscription program is pretty new, has around 2 months more or less. So we started in Europe because we saw the opportunity to partner with different coffee shops and start exploring and testing the program, making sure that it's, you know, what the coffee shop is looking for. And what the customer is looking for. And the culture just allowed it to do it first in Europe because of that sustainable mindset and reusing mindset. The US is more heavy in purchasing, and so that's why we were here focusing on having the products as merch or as dine-in. But we also want to transfer, you know, that program and bring it over to the US as soon as we have more data collected, more information on how we can make it better and how we can adapt it to the culture here in the States. But it's a work in progress, and of course the goal is to make it available worldwide. But yeah, it's a work in progress, definitely. So it differs and varies by country. So we try always to adapt wherever we are focusing our partnerships on.

Yeah, that makes sense. There's so many cultural differences and business differences. I hope that it goes well and you're able to get that pilot program, all the data back that you need to be able to roll it out. Because I love that idea of being able to have a clean, easy path for people to feel good about getting rid of it, right? And having that closed, you know, I know circularity, circular economy is one of the things you guys are thinking about. And I saw that Ethi certificate or verified, right? So like that idea of a circularity being built into the model.

Yeah.

I just love that idea. It's a really, really great idea for doing that. So hopefully it goes well and you can do more of that around the world.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And the idea with this program as well is not only to focus it on our products, of course, it's really important to do that, but also to provide something better to both the coffee shops and the customers by providing incentives to customers that are reusing such as free gifts or free coffee or whatever it may be. The coffee shop is also saving costs by not purchasing single-use cups. So it's a program that combines all the good things and taking into account the different parties involved in going and purchasing a coffee. And, you know, as well as providing great experience by having your daily coffee before you go to work or on a cup made out of coffee. So That's also a great experience that we want to provide to the customers. But again, it's something we want to bring into the US, but definitely something that we're still working on and trying to adapt as well.

Amazing. Well, as we're wrapping up, I wanted to ask, because I haven't heard of EthyVerified before, so I'm a little bit curious about what made you choose them. Because I know there's like B Corp, and there's so many out there to choose from at this point. I'd love to know kind of What drew you to them and how that process was for you guys? Because I know sometimes certification is a journey to get through.

Yeah, we're always looking to get our products or our business model certified in some way by third parties. I guess every company does as well. And so we found about Ethi. It's a British company that provides this kind of service to sustainable companies. And so they do analysis in several areas of the business, of the products, what materials do you use, do all these calculations on how much emissions you may be reducing. And then once we pass the certification, we're approved, they place this nice logo on the website where basically the customers can go in and click and see why we were certified and learn a little bit more as well about our practices and ethic. And they also had something pretty good, which was it's a marketplace on their website which showcases all of the companies that are approved with them. So that also gives us a space to where customers can find our products along with other sustainable products.

I love that idea of being able to be certified and then having them actually promote, hey, here's all these really great products if you want to find something that's certified. And that's, I would imagine it's probably beneficial for you as they're going through that process. It gives you yet another place to kind of help promote and show, hey, we're doing the right things, we're being good, we're taking care of the planet as best we can, and people And we're thinking about things like circularity and getting recognized for it. So that's great. Thanks for explaining that. I was like, love that model. I see that as really valuable for especially product companies like yourself.

Yeah, exactly. And it can be applied to any kind of products or company, CPG companies, or any brand out there can get certified depending, of course, on their sustainable practices. But it's a great way to showcase what you're doing. and to get some feedback as well, because they provide feedback on where you could improve or how to reduce X amount of emissions from the environment if you change X or Y. So it's very, very complete service that they provide and very cool features as well. So it's great to always be certified by a company as well.

Amazing. Well, I really appreciate your time. This has been a great, great conversation. I love what you guys are doing. I'm excited to see when you can show us What you're working on, see what your next materials and products will be. There's so many, I feel like there's so many opportunities for material that has this kind of lifespan that can really make an impact. So excited to see that. For everyone that's listening, watching, what's the best way to reach out to you guys to buy your products, be a partner, be a coffee shop, get these, get this product in their shop? What's the best way to find you?

Sure. So you can reach out to us via social media. So we are on Instagram and TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, @CoffeeCraze. And then also through our website, coffeecraze.com. You can reach out to us either way, submit a form for business. If you're a coffee shop and you would like to have our products and get your products branded with your logo as well, or just to reach out, all, all of our information is, uh, right there, personal emails as well. in case there are any questions related to the product or business models, or if someone would like to jump on a quick call, I'm very happy to do so as well. But yeah, that's the best way to contact us, and hoping we can get more products into the market and continue contributing to a circular economy and to more sustainable practices.

Amazing. Well, for everyone listening and watching, there will be links in the description for you to click on. So do that. And I'd love to start seeing your products in more coffee shops. Maybe, uh, maybe we can get Starbucks to, uh, get your coffee cups. That would be great to see that.

Absolutely. That would be great. Massive rollout.

Let's do it.

Yeah, that would be huge.

Um, yeah. Thanks for being on the show.

Absolutely. Thank you, Ian. Thanks for the invite again. It was great to be here with you and discuss what we're doing at Coffee Crave. And as you said, hoping to get into more coffee shops, hoping to get more visibility with people that love sustainability and innovation. And, uh, our goal again is to help our society, help our environment, our future generations, making more sustainable products and being able to reduce all the pollution that we currently see and all the emissions in our environment. So hoping to continue what we're doing at Coffee Crates, and thanks for your support as well.

Absolutely. Great to have you. And that wraps up another episode of the Conscious Design Podcast. If today's episode inspired you to bring your product idea to life and turn it into a sustainable 7-figure business, visit petermanfirm.com or click the link below. Your ideas have the power to change the world, and we're here to help make that happen. Thank you for joining us, and I'll see you on the next episode.