WHAT IF COFFEE CAN BE USED FOR A GREATER GOOD?

A major downside to our favourite drink is that most coffee grounds are used only once and then succumb to landfill. Decomposing coffee grounds in bulk quantities give off harmful Methane gas, which is around x34 more potent than Carbon Dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Methane gas is thus a primary cause of global warming.
With an ever-increasing coffee-drinking culture, this problem is only set to worsen. Most coffee establishments also have to pay high commercial waste rates to remove their abundant, wet and heavy coffee grounds.
 
So, what if these waste grounds could avoid a trip to landfill and then a wonderful new and meaningful purpose found for them to benefit our wellbeing and our communities?
 
This was the starting point of GFG. Founded in 2020, during lockdown, by retired medic come beauty entrepreneur, Dr Rosie Oretti. The principle aim of the company is to change what we consider to be waste.

 
Drawing upon her years of experience Rosie has harnessed ‘three angles of good’ to form GFG and has curated a gorgeous collection of personal care and lifestyle products. All embrace the beneficial powers of reused coffee grounds and their powerhouse extracts.

Grounds for Good believe that every person has a right to a place they can call home.

• GFG will trade as a social enterprise and profits will go to The Wallich; a National charity supporting homeless individuals across Wales and their rehabilitation back into employment.
• GFG will provide a number of placements for individuals, equipping them with useful practical and business skills in readiness for their return to the workplace. It will also enable them to give back directly to the charity that supported their own recovery.
• GFG will launch this Autumn and all products will be vegan, cruelty free and made from a variety of 100% natural ingredients, mainly sourced from Welsh suppliers. All products will be developed and hand made in Wales.

A WORD FROM THE WALLICH

The Wallich exists to fulfil three core aims; to get people off the streets, keep people off the streets and create opportunities for them to re-engage with their communities after experiencing homelessness.

Our partnership with Grounds for Good will support all three of these aims, and will translate into literal opportunities for the people we support. We’re really looking forward to seeing the placements for the people we work with come to fruition and the partnership going from strength to strength.

Our values are strongly aligned with Grounds for Good. At The Wallich we are family, we believe in community and authenticity. Grounds for Good’s business model is good for us, good for the environment and good for the community. Rossana and Amy’s passion and commitment to making the world a better place shines through in everything they do.

The Wallich provided support to more than 9,000 people last year, but we can’t do it alone. We believe in a Wales where people stand together to create hope, support and solutions to end homelessness. We need everyone to play their part, from government, to individuals, to businesses. We thank Rossana and Amy for using their skills and resources to do their bit.

Dr Lindsay Cordery-Bruce, CEO, The Wallich

AT GROUNDS FOR GOOD WE TAKE A 3 PRONGED APPROACH TO BUSINESS:

GOOD 4 YOU:

We understand how important it is to look after self and take joy in your home. So, many of our products do just that. We are proud to be a company with integrity and transparency. So, we use vegan, cruelty free ingredients and natural products.

Attention to detail is important to us to keep the sustainable ethos throughout. Outdoor candles – reclaimed terracotta pots are used. Organic cotton from a welsh company – for eye pillows. Original coffee sack for the doorstops.

GOOD 4 OUR COMMUNITY

Support homeless charity because we firmly believe that everyone deserves a place they can call home.. HOME is the anchor to everything. Our physical, mental and emotional well being is dependent upon having a safe and secure place called home.

By styling your home the sustainable way- you give someone else a chance of finding their home

Often people don’t know how to help the homeless- but my supporting organisations with these skills we can make a difference – that’s why we support The Wallich and Shelter Cymru

Profits from sale of non alcohol products goes to these charities through work for good- so donations are transparent.

Our model going forward is to offer work placements for those individuals being supported by the charity and who are working towards getting back into paid employment. We teach them new skills and by increasing productivity within the business/sales – they are giving back to the charity that supported them

Being a WELSH business is important to us. Where we can, we collaborate with other welsh businesses and use welsh ingredients in may of our products – driving the welsh economy and being a proud contributor to the high regard in which welsh produce is held

Independent coffee shop owners are desperate to ensure their waste coffee is put to good use. They pay expensive refuse collection bills – so we hope by working with us, they save on this too.

 

GOOD 4 OUR PLANET

The UK consumes 98 million cups of coffee every day, creating hundreds of thousands of tonnes of spent coffee grounds every year. Much of this discarded resource ends up in landfill emitting harmful greenhouse gases, including methane. This latter gas is around 30 +x more powerful as a greenhouse gas then carbon dioxide. It doesn’t need to be this way.Coffee grounds still have so much left in the way of flavour, aroma, texture and physical properties (weight; vol; combustibility). As coffee alchemist, our job is to transform these qualities into high end luxury products that have both function and beauty. To really showcase the diverse ways in which coffee grounds can be utilized.

We work  to transform these spent coffee grounds into value, giving new life to a material previously considered waste, and contributing to a circular economy.

Innovation, creativity, attention to detail and thinking outside the box. Medic/science background really helps to explore unique ways in which to transform grounds. Hence the branding to reflect. Many of our products are the FIRST on the market.

Flavour= gin/vodka/chocolate (more to come!)

Texture – choc and candles, even the weighted eye pillow and body scrubs

Aroma- candles , reed diffusers, eye pillow. The outdoor candle is designed to deter bugs as they don’t like the smell of coffee.

Physical properties (filler and combustibility etc)- doorstop/eye pillows /firelighters /artwork/straws/drinking cups

We use limited /minimal packaging and where we do, we use recyclable materials and eco printers  Eco ingredients inc – the base for the reed diffusers and natural essential oils etc

 We are upscaling our coffee collection and soon – all the coffee shops independents who work with us can be assured their grounds are not going to landfill but instead will be used to make fertilizer and biofuel which will feed into the welsh national grid.