Hello! This is Dave Cheung from Hong Kong Branch.

Coffee is a popular beverage consumed all over the world. However, people usually discard the coffee grounds left behind after it’s brewed. But after reading this blog article, you may reconsider throwing them out. In fact, used coffee grounds have many practical uses, including as plant fertilizer, repel insects and pests, scrubbing agents or even in skin care products.

In February, Social Value and Well-being Committee(SVWC) of Hong Kong Branch invited an environmental social enterprise, Eco-Greenergy, to organize a Coffee Grounds Upcycling Workshop at our office, to demonstrate and let our staff to experience how to make use of the used coffee grounds.

Eco-Greenergy is an environmental social enterprise founded in 2014. Their core businesses include Zero Grounds Coffee Campaign, eco products retail sales & customization and eco education workshops. From daily operation to product selection and design, being eco and user-friendly is their core value. Offering employment and practicum opportunities to underprivileged talent is also their mission to serve. With the simple and sustainable solutions, customers can go green with Eco-Greenergy easily while enhancing an inclusive society.

Peann and May are the representatives from Eco-Greenergy as the workshop tutors. They brought out the theme of coffee ground upcycling to kickstart the event with around 20 staff members participating. The two main upcycling products of the workshop are “Mosquito Coil” and “Ornament Plant”. And for the production the Mosquito Coil, we made use of our well-prepared coffee grounds which has been reserved for around two weeks.

Firstly, we start the production of “Mosquito Coil”. Certain compounds found in coffee, such caffeine and diterpenes, can be highly toxic to insects. Because of this, you can use coffee grounds to repel bugs. They are effective at deterring mosquitos, fruit flies and beetles, and they may help keep other pests away too. We made use of our well-prepared coffee grounds for the production of mosquito coil.

Mosquito coil making was only the warm-up of the workshop. Ornament planting seemed to be the real challenge of the day. Effort and concentration were necessary to hold the plant firmly and it was not going easy .Finally, many nice plants were made with our participants’ decent effort. Beautiful pictures of plants with the Victoria Harbour and sunshine reside next to our windows were taken with a happy group picture to end this fun yet meaningful workshop.

This is the final Social Value workshop of this semester. Thanks to everyone in our branch who participated our events and the support from our senior management through and through! SVWC of Hong Kong branch will continue to contribute!