We’ve scoured the internet for interesting ways people are repurposing used coffee grounds (and tea leaves). Below are some common and not-so-common ideas.
These are not specific recommendations. Use care and common sense if you choose to try them:
Home and Kitchen
- The Fridge: Coffee grounds act the same as baking soda in the refrigerator. Put a cup of old grounds in the back of your fridge to keep it fresh.1
- Your Closet: Let your used coffee grounds dry and fill part of an old nylon with them. Hang your DIY sachet in your closet to absorb odors.2
- Disposal: Pour some coffee grounds down the garbage disposal to freshen it up and keep the blades sharp.3
- Go Fishing: The next time you go fishing keep your worms in coffee grounds to keep them fresher longer.1
- Ash dust: Make cleaning your fireplace less dusty by sprinkling your wet coffee grounds over the ashes before you sweep them up.#
- Dye paper: Coffee grounds make a great natural dye for paper. Simply soak the paper in a bucket with water and coffee grounds. 4
- Cockroach Trap: use a can with grounds inside, sticky tape on edges.
- Scrubbing Boost: add to scouring pad for extra scrubbing (avoid surfaces that could stain).
- Spice: enhances certain food flavors. *clearly this would need to be fresh, not old moldy stuff*
- Pin Cushion: helps keep pins from rusting.
Garden and Pets
- Fight Fleas: Add some coffee grounds to your dog’s bath as a natural flea repellent.3
Or, rub into fur after bath (rinse thoroughly) as flea killer and fur softener.
- Fruit Plant Mulch: Use coffee grounds as a mulch (a good half-inch thick layer) around blueberries, fruit trees, currants and cane fruit. 6
- High Nitrogen Feeding: Coffee grounds make an excellent side-dressing for leafy greens like spinach, and hungry fruiting veggies, like tomatoes and squash. They are high in nitrogen, at about 10%. “[T]he carbon to nitrogen ratio of coffee grounds can be as low as 11:1, an ideal ratio for plant and soil nutrition,” according to WSU extension. 6
- Vermicomposting: Worms love coffee grounds, as part of a balanced composting diet. 6
- Suppression of Fungal Diseases: coffee grounds “appear to suppress some common fungal rots and wilts, including Fusarium, Pythium, and Sclerotinia species,” according to research.coffee grounds act as a natural anti-fungal, suppressing rots and wilts on such crops as tomatoes and peppers. 6
- Soil Pest Deterrent: coffee grounds deter garden pests like root maggots, which helps preserve veggies like carrots and radishes.
- Other Pest Deterrent: coffee grounds also help deter ants, snails, and slugs (note: not an eliminator, just a deterrent). 6
- Keep Cats Out: Chopped orange peel mixed with coffee grounds acts as a natural cat deterrent in the garden.
Personal Care
- Body Wash: Combine coffee grounds with coconut oil and just a bit of brown sugar and you’ll have yourself a homemade body scrub for the shower. 4
- Odor Remover: Get rid of the smell of garlic and onion from your hands by scrubbing them with coffee grounds. 5
- Exfoliant: melt into glycerin soap. #
- Anti-Acne: skin care – exfoliator, anti-acne (add to coconut oil, vit E , or jojoba oil) #
- Hair Color: hair color/conditioner (for dark hair types) #
