Caffè Nero has become the first major high street coffee brand to devise a scheme where recycling vans pick up used beans to be converted into fuel for homes and cars.
All 122 Caffè Nero stores in London are involved in the scheme, which will see 218 tonnes of used coffee grounds recycled into 98 tonnes of biomass pellets in its first year. These can be used in wood burners to heat 453 homes.
The brand is working with bio-bean — a firm developing technology to turn used beans into biofuels. It says one tonne of waste coffee grounds can create 245 litres of biodiesel, enough to fill four cars.
The amount of waste coffee made by Caffè Nero each year would get a car around the M25 3,689 times, bio-bean’s research shows.
Caffè Nero is working with London-based recycling firm First Mile to deliver the scheme, launched last July.
Baristas load used coffee grounds into special sacks for First Mile — which runs 65 trucks across the capital — to collect every night.
Matt Spencer, commercial director of Caffè Nero, said the firm was keen to make an environmental impact with the scheme, adding: “Any opportunity we have to make a bit of a difference we take, so we jumped at the chance to do it.”
First Mile commercial officer Joe Allen added: “It is fantastic to see Caffè Nero recycling a significant amount of waste coffee.”
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