Composting Coffee Grounds

Rebecca Wilson, passionate about recycling across South Yorkshire
Rebecca Wilson
9 Feb 2026

Make your morning cup of coffee go further by adding it your compost heap. Many of us have coffee grounds from cafetiere and espresso machines, so why not save them from the bin and use them to help your garden thrive!

coffee cup

Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed daily all over the world making it one of the most most popular drinks. Many of us love to make it fresh at home, making lots of coffee grounds that are ideal for our composters as they are high in nitrogen, an essential nutrient for our soil. They also contain potassium and phosphorus which can help our plants thrive.

Whilst adding them to your compost heap has many benefits, it is important to add them in moderation due caffeine content and high moisture levels. Too much coffee grounds can cause unpleasant odours because of excess nitrogen levels.

It is recommended that no more than 20% of your compost heap is coffee grounds as it is important to keep your mixture balanced.

Coffee grounds can be sprinkled around the garden as they make a good repellent for slugs and snails. If you do have pets, do this sparingly as caffeine can be toxic to dogs if consumed in large amounts.



More Composting Blogs

  1. Keeping Rats out of Compost Bins

  2. Composting 101: Turning Food Waste into Nutrient-Rich Soil for Your Garden

  3. The Compost Recipe

Useful Links

Gardeners World: How to use coffee grounds for plants

Compost Guy: Why Your Compost Needs a Caffeine Kick (And How to Give It One!)

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