Recycle Your Tea and Coffee Waste

Enjoy your cup of coffee or tea whether it calms you or gives you a caffeine fix and at the same time do your bit for the environment.
‘Recycle’ your tea and coffee waste.

After enjoying that calming cup of tea, here’s what you can do with your used tea bags or loose tea leaves.

In the garden your tea bags can be:

• composted and used as food for your garden plants as they are rich or even used to ward of pests and insects;
• used on top of the drainage layer at the bottom of your planter before topping up with soil to help retain water whilst leaching some nutrients.

In your kitchen

• Dried tea leaves can absorb moisture in cupboards and odours in refrigerators,  remove oil from pots and pans and soak up oil spills.
• Wet tea leaves can be rubbed on your hands or left on cutting boards and counter to get rid of food odours (garlic, onions, etc.).

In the home dried tea leaves can be used:

• in your kitty litter, pet pillow or other smelly spots to reduce or eliminate pet odours;
• to freshen your carpet and at the same time deodorize your vacuum cleaner by sprinkling, crushing, letting sit for 10 minutes your tea leaves on the carpet and then vacuuming the carpet.

 

We go through many cups of coffee to get through the day. Get your caffeine fix and use your ground coffee waste in the following ways:

[caption id="attachment_1467" align="alignnone" width="236"] ground coffee and coffee beans[/caption]

In the garden your coffee waste can be used to

•  ward of ants and slugs by making a border with it around plants;
•  fortify plants with a nitrogen boost and especially grow healthy vibrant acid-loving plants such roses, azaleas, rhododendrons, evergreens, hydrangeas and camellias;
• keep cats and their awful smelling litter out of the garden, added with a mixture of orange peels;

In the kitchen your coffee ground waste can be used to

• deodorize your fridge or freezer by placing a bowl of ground coffee in it;
•  clean tools and dishware by scouring using some ground on a thin cleaning rag;
•  scrub hands by rubbing a scoop of grounds between the palms and deodorizing them at the same time.

In the home coffee grounds can be used to:

• fill furniture scratches using a cotton swab dipped in the grounds;
• contain ashes in your fireplace by sprinkling damp coffee grounds, especially when cleaning it;
• make a cockroach trap by filling a can of jar with moistened coffee grounds and lining the container's neck with extra-sticky double-sided tape. The scent will draw the roaches into the trap.
• repel ant infestation by sprinkling coffee grounds around affected areas;
• make a dye for Easter eggs, fabric and paper by soaking grounds in hot water.