Coffee peels can be valorised and reused in another production cycle, instead of being disposed of as waste. This system encourages a circular economy model and allows for a significant reduction in business costs.

The project was undertaken with the aim of reducing company costs due to waste management. Starting from this goal we are considering that a waste deriving from a production process is not always a waste, but it can be a resource and have a value in a circular model.

The coffee beans roasting production process generates, through jets of hot water vapors, the coffee husks, films not contaminated with dangerous substances. Compliance with the four conditions referred to in art. 184-bis paragraph 1 of Legislative Decree 152/06 and subsequent amendments, in order to define such waste as by-products, and exclude them from management as waste pursuant to part IV of the T.U. Environmental.

Subsequently, the methods of reuse were sought, in compliance with good industrial practices. After an in depth research has shown that the most appropriate reuse, both on the basis of the quantities produced and on the basis of territoriality of the Company, is in the organic farms.

The identified organic farm, after evaluating the by-product as regards the presence of any metals and pesticides, will reuse the coffee peels for mulching the garden and for the production of biological compost.

The entire by-product management process is supported by documentation, drawn up in compliance with Legislative Decree 152/06 and subsequent mendments and Ministerial Decree 264/2016, such as: management procedure, contract between manufacturer and user, registration in the list of the by-products of the Chamber of Commerce and chemical analysis of the by-products.

The project has achieved two primary objectives: the first one, the reduction of management costs and the disposal of waste as waste, the second one the valorisation of the waste for subsequent reuse in a circular economy perspective. This system has allowed the Company a reduction in annual costs, for the management of coffee peels as waste, amounting to approximately € 3.000.

A necessary condition for the replicability of the project is that the coffee peels are not contaminated by substances that are hazardous to health and the environment, so that they can be reused, as by-products, in the cycle production of a company that deals with organic farming.