Country: Indonesia

School/ organization: Sekolah Alam Bogor

Teacher: Okwan Himpuni

Students: Ahmad Raaif. S, Nico Putra. R, and M. Rayhan Vatian.

Project title: Coffee Grounds Waste Utilization for Odour Remover and Natural Fertilizer (Waste Project)

Our experiment is based on processing Coffee Grounds. The goal of our experiment is to find an alternative solution in processing Coffee Grounds into Odour Remover and Natural Fertilizer. Finding the perfect combination of Coffee Grounds and specific ingredients to create the perfect Odor Remover. And to acknowledge the growth rate of plant using Coffee Ground as the Natural Fertilizer.

Coffee is a popular beverage and has become a lifestyle for the majority people of Indonesia and the world. Consumption of coffee in Indonesia has reach 4,6 Million bags (@60Kg) per year. Which produces 237.360 tons of Coffee Grounds that is thrown away. The weight of the Coffee Grounds produce per year is equivalent to five RMS Titanic.

We have introduced the coffee grounds as an odour remover to the community, and they wanted to try it at home. We actually give them a free sample that they can use it for a long term period and to give opinion about it.

Our conclusion that is achieved from the experiments shows that the mixture between 5 gr of coffee grounds and 10 ml of olive oil is the most effective combination for odour remover with the best absorption and is the most durable combination, which made this combination last for over 7 days. This is possible because the structure of coffee includes Ethypenol and Phemoron, those two materials are the main source of what makes coffee has it’s special aroma. Coffee grounds can be use for natural fertilizer for plants because of it’s pH that ranges between 5,5 – 6,5 (tomato, chilli, etc).

This is because coffee grounds have the compatible nutrition for natural fertilizer. Coffee have a low dose of pH (6,9 – 6,2 pH) it helps to speed up the process of composting on planting medium.