*Cllr Mary Howard and Siobhain Landy. Photograph: John O’Neill
COFFEE GROUNDS are to be offered free of charge to customers of an Ennis restaurant for use in their garden.
It’s part of a new initiative between Sweet n Green and Ennis Tidy Towns that is aimed to get local gardeners to try clean up on the waste of coffee grounds.
Chairperson of Ennis Tidy Towns, Cllr Mary Howard (FG) explained, “Coffee grounds are an excellent compost ingredient and are fine to apply directly onto the soil around most garden plants if used with care and moderation. Coffee grounds contain nutrients that plants use for growth. The grounds are relatively high in nitrogen and also contain potassium and phosphorus, as well as being a source of organic matter”.
Co-owner of Sweet n Green, Siobhain Landy outlined, “Every day we have a large amount of coffee grains going to waste. This is a great way to reuse the grounds and condition the soil and protect plants. The moist, small particles of coffee grounds are certainly an excellent compost ingredient because of their texture, to mix with dry and woody waste to speed the composting process. Ensuring a balanced mix of ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ materials is the best way to achieve good compost. The nutrients contained in coffee grounds will be recycled back into the soil when finished compost is used as a mulch or dug into the soil. Also add any un-drunk coffee to dry material in a compost bin”.
She continued, “Coffee tends to be slightly acidic and is therefore good for acid-loving plants such as hydrangeas, as well as nutrient-hungry plants like roses, but again use it only in moderation on any one plant. Coffee grounds are one of many materials said to repel slugs and can be used around their favourite plants such as hostas, though results are not guaranteed”.
Cllr Howard said that following a chat with Siobhain and Frank, “we decided to work together with Sweet N Green and offer bags of coffee grounds free to customers to use in their gardens”.
Bags of coffee grounds are now available daily at Sweet n Green. “We encourage all our local gardeners to avail of them, In the long run we have a number of initiatives we would like to introduce to Ennis in collaboration with other cafes and restaurants – we love to make Ennis a disposable cup free zone. Our plans are only in their infancy and we would love other cafes and restaurants to join with us as we work out a plan to make this happen,” Cllr Howard said.
