intu Milton Keynes breaks new ‘grounds’ with coffee shop waste

A coffee-ground-breaking initiative is being launched at intu Milton Keynes this week that will see coffee shop waste turned into compost.

Green-fingered gardeners are in luck as the centre starts offering free bags of coffee ‘waste’ for use as a natural garden fertiliser.

From this week, shoppers will be able to pick up bags of used coffee grounds from the Coffee Cart on the mall and take them home to boost plant growth in their garden.

intu Milton Keynes has introduced the initiative as part of its ongoing commitment to recycling within the centre and reducing its carbon footprint. Coffee waste will be collected daily from the centre’s retailers including, Starbucks, Pret and the Waterstones Café, then bagged, labelled and displayed on the Coffee Cart located on the mall.

Coffee grounds are a natural, long-term way to enrich soil and speed up the composting process, using waste that would otherwise end up in landfill. As they are high in nitrogen, coffee grounds can help with plant growth, particularly for acid-loving plants such as azaleas, hydrangeas, blueberries, and lilies, as well as root crops like carrots or radishes.

Shelley Peppard, general manager of intu Milton Keynes, said: “We are fully committed to recycling, sustainability and supporting the environment. Rather than send coffee waste to landfill, we thought this would be a good way to recycle it. Visitors to intu Milton Keynes are welcome to come and pick up a bag or two and use it to help nurture their gardens. We are very pleased to see the coffee waste going to good use, particularly as these businesses make a lot of cups of coffee each day!”

Find out more about intu Milton Keynes at www.intu.co.uk/miltonkeynes