Here's a few ideas of how you can recycle used coffee grounds. Is there a way that you reuse coffee grounds that isn't listed? Let us know email hello@dailyjava.com
1. Pest Repellent
Sprinkle used coffee grounds around your plants to protect them against destructive garden pests like ants, snails, and slugs. It has even been said that old grounds mixed with dried orange peel will keep away some small mammals like cats (though Felix can be a tough customer. If coffee and orange peel doesn’t work, try rosemary oil instead!)
2. Absorb Food Odors
Used coffee grounds can be used much like baking soda for absorbing food odors in the refrigerator and freezer. Just load up a small open container with your old grounds, place it in the back of the fridge, then forget about it for a couple of weeks while you collect more grounds. As an added bonus, after you remove smelly old grounds from the refrigerator or freezer, you can then toss them on the compost pile or use them for fertilizer!
3. Natural Abrasive
Sprinkle old coffee grounds onto an old cleaning cloth and use them to scrub away stuck-on food from counters or dishes. While used grounds are abrasive, they aren’t so harsh that they will damage the surfaces in your kitchen. (Just be sure not to accidentally scrub grounds into cracks where they might leave behind stains!)
4. Homemade Candles
If you love the smell of coffee, why not turn your old grounds into all-natural homemade candles? For this fun up-cycling project you will need a small paper coffee cup, a paper towel, about a cup of wax candle ends, a wick, scissors, a small sauce pan for melting the wax, a small glass mixing bowl, and of course some used coffee grounds.
5. Rejuvenating Facial
Just as it works as a body scrub, coffee makes an excellent facial. Mix two tablespoons of used coffee grounds with an equal amount of organic cocoa powder. Add three tablespoons of whole milk or heavy cream and top it off with a heaping tablespoon of honey for the perfect all-natural alpha-hydroxy and antioxidant facial.
6. Clean Your Hands After Chopping Garlic
Keep a little cup of coffee grounds near or under your sink, and rub a handful of them on your hands after chopping garlic or onions or other smelly things. The grounds will absorb the odor.