EcoBean wants to valorize waste from your morning cup of joe

In Poland, a startup called EcoBean is repurposing coffee waste into biodegradable products, including flower pots, coffee cups, and straws.

According to online sustainability publication Impakter, the 2.25 billion cups of coffee consumed daily creates over half a million metric tons of waste coffee grounds. Most of this waste ends up in landfills and emits carbon dioxide and methane as it degrades.

“[The] main goal is a significant reduction of carbon footprint for coffee serving points,” says CEO and Founder of EcoBean Marcin Koziorowski.

Ecobean is also socially conscious, sending profits to support small-scale coffee bean farmers in Ethiopia. In October, the company raised €7 million to scale production.