Grounded Cups boost circular production through Closing Loops

Grounded Cups has made a significant step toward making its products fully circular. Its cups, made from coffee grounds, have been tested with impressive results and can decompose effectively in less than six months.

Compostable cups: From waste to resource

Grounded Cups has created a bright and sustainable cycle in which coffee grounds are recycled to create cups that can return nutrients to the soil after use. Test results show that the cups—regardless of material thickness—degrade efficiently in about four months. This makes them an ideal solution for the environmentally conscious consumer and nature.

Developing a product that can be composted and enrich the soil is a milestone for Grounded Cups. They now have a solution demonstrating how the circular economy works.

Closing Loops as a driving force for development

Through their Closing Loops project, Grounded Cups has worked closely with the Danish Technological Institute, Krebs, and Co. The project, which has Clean – Denmark’s water and environment cluster behind it, has focused on optimizing the value chain. For Grounded Cups, this has included testing, fermentation, production, and exploration of new technologies to maximize the utilization of coffee grounds and other waste resources.

For Grounded Cups, the CØ project is all about streamlining their value chain. For them, this has meant that local production has become a core element of Grounded Cups’ strategy. The company collects coffee grounds from Danish suppliers and ensures that the entire value chain remains as close to Denmark as possible.

“The Danish Technological Institute has been invaluable in our work to develop fermentation processes and other technologies that make our production even more efficient and environmentally friendly.” – Marcus Byrgesen co-founder of Grounded Cups.

Through the collaboration in the Closing Loops project, Grounded cups has gained new partnerships and collaborations that are both relevant here and now, but also relevant in future projects.

“We have also established partnerships with companies like Nordinvent that work with biorefining, which opens up new opportunities” – Marcus Byrgesen.

To further demonstrate the product’s value creation, the company is conducting germination tests. They are investigating whether the soil where the cups are broken down can promote plant growth and act as fertilizer.

“We are now testing how the nutrients from the cups affect the growth of different plants. This gives us insight into how our product is not only sustainable, but can also contribute to a richer soil.” – Marcus Byrgesen.

Ready for large-scale production

From January 2024, Grounded Cups will increase their production from the current 30,000-40,000 cups per month to half a million cups per month, with the ambition to reach 6 million cups annually.

“We have created a product that already fulfills the principles of circular economy. Our focus now is to scale production while staying true to our sustainable values. We want to use Danish resources like coffee grounds and keep production as local as possible” – Marcus Byrgesen, Grounded Cups.

Grounded Cups, through an interdisciplinary collaboration through Closing Loops with partners Clean, J. Krebs og Co A/S and the Danish Technological Institute, has transformed waste into a resource that creates value for both the environment and future sustainable solutions.