LIFE ECOFFEED

NEW LIFE ECOFFEED project fiche

LIFE ECOFFEED: from coffee waste to animal feed

In 2018, coffee lovers across Europe drank the equivalent of 2.7 million tonnes of coffee and used 21 billion coffee capsules. One kilogram of coffee generates around two kilograms of wet spent coffee grounds (SCG), and each capsule contains nine grams of coffee, generating 18 grams of wet SCG and 3 grams of plastic and aluminium waste. Wet SCG from the HORECA sector (hotels, restaurants and cafés) represents 36% of total SCG waste. The soluble coffee industry accounts for 14%, while domestic consumption makes up the remaining 50%.
Currently, wet SCG is only partially valorised in low added-value applications such as fertilisers and energy production. However, around 46% of this by-product is still treated as waste and ends up in landfills or incineration plants.
At the same time, livestock diets in Europe largely rely on imported materials and studies predict a 70% increase in livestock demand over the next 25 years (2050).

How LIFE ECOFFEED makes a difference

LIFE ECOFFEED aims to incorporate SCG as a safe, high-value and nutritionally viable ingredient in animal feed. With support from the C2M team, the project is developing a business plan to accelerate implementation, attract partners and investors and showcase its full potential.
LIFE ECOFFEED pioneers a new and largely untapped approach by transforming SCG into animal feed ingredients: moving beyond traditional low-value uses like fertilizers and energy production. This innovative approach enables the replacement of conventional feed raw materials, reduces the land needed for growing animal feed crops, and decreases methane emissions, due to the positive effect of SCG in the ruminal methanogenesis.

LIFE ECOFFEED results:

➢The project team developed two innovative logistic systems to increase the collection efficiency of coffee by-products, namely SCG and capsules;
➢Demonstration of a valorisation scheme at a semi-industrial scale, producing new animal feed ingredients from wet SCG. This animal feed ingredient offers a sustainable, local and circular alternative to conventional feed components like soy or maize.
➢Collection and processing of +20 tonnes of SCG and 1.5 tonnes of coffee capsules;
➢Production of +1 tonnes of pellets made from SCG unsuitable for animal feed, to increase the drying efficiency, and production of +350 kg of recyclable plastics and aluminium;
➢Production of +10 tonnes of SCG-based ingredient (+9 tonnes of non-hydrolysed ingredient and 1 tonne of hydrolysed ingredient), enabling the substitution of 10% of conventional animal feed ingredients;
➢Manufacture of 100 tonnes of experimental feed across seven experimental diets, to be compared with 100 tonnes of control feed in three control diets;
➢Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by +5.5 kg CO₂ equivalent.

Quote from the Coordinating Beneficiary

David San Martín, Project Coordinator

“I’d definitely recommend the LIFE Programme and C2M support. It’s a great opportunity to test innovative solutions that might never reach the market otherwise. The programme helps you answer the critical questions needed to validate an idea. My main advice is to put careful thought into the consortium. It’s essential to involve actors from the entire value chain to ensure you cover all perspectives and components of the project. That makes a real difference.”