How a Czech company turns coffee waste into tangible and valuable products

Every day around the world, more than two billion cups of coffee are consumed – creating millions of tonnes of used coffee grounds that mostly end up in landfill or incineration.

Coffee!Up, a Czech-based circular innovation platform, transforms this overlooked waste stream into a valuable resource through cascade recycling, creating new materials, cosmetics, and now even carbon-negative biochar and fertilisers.

Coffee grounds are an abundant but underutilised byproduct. When discarded, they decompose and release methane, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, while valuable oils and nutrients are lost.

The challenge for Coffee!Up was to turn everyday coffee waste into a renewable, traceable feedstock for multiple industries — reducing waste, cutting emissions, and engaging both companies and consumers in a tangible circular model.

Cascade recycling in action

Coffee!Up has designed a fully circular bioeconomy model that values coffee grounds step-by-step, from collection to final product.

• From 1 tonne of collected wet coffee grounds, Coffee!Up yields approximately 970 kg of natural soap, 65.5 kg of coffee oil, and 371 kg of biomass.
• The extracted coffee oil is used in premium skincare developed jointly with NanoSPACE Cosmetics, a Czech biotech company specialising in nanocosmetic formulations.
• Remaining grounds are used as natural pigments and fillers in plastic manufacturing. In cooperation with PLASTIA, coffee pigments colour a new generation of sustainable home and garden products.
• PLASTIA has already received two Red Dot Design Awards and a German Design Award for its products coloured with coffee grounds – including reusable cups that showcase circular aesthetics.
• Finally, residual material is converted into bio-briquettes and pellets as renewable fuel, further extending the lifecycle of the coffee residue.

Closing the loop with responsible producers

Coffee!Up has established direct 'close-the-loop' partnerships with major corporate coffee consumers such as KPMG and Komerční banka (KB).

The coffee grounds generated in their offices are collected, processed, and then returned to them as bespoke coffee-coloured products. These partnerships turn sustainability goals into visible, measurable outcomes – fostering corporate pride and employee engagement.

Building on the cascade-recycling model, Coffee!Up is now pioneering the conversion of coffee grounds into biochar through low-temperature pyrolysis. This biochar locks carbon into a stable form for hundreds of years, creating measurable CO₂ offsets that can be certified under voluntary carbon schemes.

In parallel, Coffee!Up develops fertilisers enriched with coffee-based biochar, offering farmers a renewable soil amendment that improves water retention and soil health while contributing to carbon sequestration.

This new phase connects urban waste streams with rural regeneration — linking circular economy, climate action, and biodiversity benefits in one integrated approach.

Impact and benefits

• Material circularity: Each kilogram of coffee waste is transformed into multiple value-added products, displacing virgin materials such as palm oil, pigments or peat.
• CO₂ reduction and carbon removal: Through diversion from landfill, substitution of fossil inputs, and biochar production, Coffee!Up helps both to reduce emissions and actively remove carbon from the atmosphere.
• Design and innovation leadership: Coffee!Up’s partners, including PLASTIA and NanoSPACE Cosmetics, demonstrate how circular collaboration drives competitive, design-led innovation.
• Corporate engagement: Close-loop partnerships with KPMG and KB prove that even office coffee can generate tangible sustainability impact and employee motivation.
• Soil regeneration and offsets: Coffee-based biochar fertilisers link the circular economy with agricultural resilience and carbon farming.
• Replicability: The model can be replicated across Europe and adapted to other organic by-products, contributing directly to EU circular-bioeconomy objectives.

Why does it matter for Europe's circular economy?

Coffee!Up translates EU policy priorities – waste prevention, bio-based innovation, decarbonisation and soil health – into a tangible business model.

It shows how the Green Deal, Circular Economy Action Plan and the upcoming EU Bioeconomy Strategy come to life when creativity meets scientific precision. What begins with a single cup of coffee ends as a cascade of circular value: from waste to worth.

Coffee!Up plans to scale its collection and processing network across Central Europe, launch biochar-based fertilisers and verified carbon offsets, and introduce new cosmetic and material innovations derived from coffee oil and biomass.

Its long-term vision is clear: to make coffee grounds a mainstream feedstock in Europe’s circular bioeconomy — creating value, reducing emissions, and closing the loop, one cup at a time.

For more information on Coffee!Up, please visit their website.

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