Grounds for celebrating a coffee break
It’s that time of year again when bins become heroes and the stats are in on how our caffeine habits have fared this year – welcome to National Recycling Week.
At Winslow Infrastructure (WI), this week is all about celebrating the small actions we take as a business to reduce our waste and give materials a new purpose.
The focus in our Port Melbourne office is a two-pronged approach, where we separate rubbish into soft plastics, recycling and food waste and we give our coffee machine grinds a second chance.
Partnering with Reground, for nearly three years, WI has been collecting and donating our coffee grinds from our Port Melbourne office.
Reground is a social enterprise dedicated to helping organisations and individuals build a circular economy through innovative waste collection and sustainable waste management initiatives, focusing on coffee grind waste bins and beyond.
So, let’s look back at our efforts over the past 12 months and where the grounds of our 13,889 coffees have gone:
- 526kg of coffee grounds have been collected and sent to gardens instead of landfill
- 971kg of emissions have been avoided and we have prevented harmful greenhouse gas being released into the atmosphere
Who are the end users of our coffee grounds?
- 84 per cent have been donated to home gardens
- 10 per cent have been donated to the Melbourne Zoo
- 6 per cent have been donated to community gardens
In addition to our coffee grounds:
- 26kg of soft plastic has been diverted and recycled into new products instead of the ocean and landfill
- 21kg of emissions have been avoided and not released into the atmosphere
We have saved the equivalent of five shopping trolleys of soft plastic, meaning it has been recycled and can be made into something again and again.
These impressive results come from just one office.
Imagine the impact if all our sites and offices began tracking their waste and recycling efforts?
Well done, everyone. Keep on separating your rubbish and continue filling those coffee cups.