Caffe Inc. Building signs contract for €4 million to build recycling plant for coffee waste in Amsterdam
April 07, 2022
Caffe Inc. BV and the Amsterdam Climate and Energy Fund (ACEF) join forces to make possible the launching of a 100% circular recycling plant for coffee waste in Amsterdam. The factory will represent one of the most significant private-public commitments to reuse the coffee waste in consumer markets. In addition, Amsterdam will soon have a coffee recycling biorefinery that will turn used coffee grounds into ingredients for face creams, shampoos, textiles and more. The factory will have the capacity to reduce CO2 amounts by the equivalent of 75,000 trees per year by removing coffee grounds from the waste stream.
*Founding CTO Evaluna Marquez (left) and Founding CEO Josephine Nijstad (right) | Photograph: Cees Hin
“Coffee is something everyone can relate to. By making the circular case for coffee waste we want to inspire others to start working towards a circular economy”
Josephine Nijstad, founding CEO Caffe Inc
A circular initiative in a coffee recycling plant
Given how much coffee we drink, only 1% of the coffee bean is used to make coffee, and 99% is waste. In the Netherlands alone, that amounts to 250,000 tons of coffee waste. Caffe Inc. BV, therefore processes coffee grounds in Amsterdam and uses these to produce 100% circular and natural ingredients. It must be noted that there are plenty of uses for nutrient-rich, plant-based expired coffee grounds — known as “koffiedik” in Dutch — in both personal and commercial applications, including simple composting. Caffe Inc, founded by Evaluna Marquez and Josephine Nijstad, saw an opportunity to turn this everyday waste to produce circular and natural ingredients; Caffe Inc. BV offers a 100% circular solution for coffee waste.
The Amsterdam Climate & Energy Fund (ACEF) has provided financing to upscale the technology, with commercial production in mind. “The creation of the coffee recycling plant of Caffe Inc. perfectly fits into the circular strategy of the City of Amsterdam,” City of Amsterdam Alderman Marieke van Doorninck said in the announcement of the Caffe Inc. investment. “Initiatives like this assist the city in achieving its ambition to become one of the leading circular hubs in Europe.”