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Now to this week’s blog - Using Coffee Waste To Create A Forest
What if I told you there is a way to grow a forest in 2 years? You’d probably look at me like I was crazy.
And what if I told you this can be done by just using a waste product from coffee production which is the coffee pulp? You’d probably think maybe I should unsubscribe from getting these weekly blogs.
Well, it turns out both statements are true!
A study reported in the Ecological Solutions and Evidence Journal found that spreading coffee pulp over degraded lands in Costa Rica helped them recover quickly. The researchers dumped 30 truckloads of coffee pulp on a small plot of degraded land and compared it to an untreated plot.
The researchers were amazed when a small forest had grown on the treated land in just two years! The control plot mostly had non-native pasture grasses growing in it.
In another study, researchers from ETH-Zurich and the University of Hawaii discovered that a coffee pulp treated plot grew 80 percent of a canopy cover, compared to the control plot, which only grew 20 percent. The canopy was also four times taller than the control area's growth.
People around the world drink a lot of coffee. Imagine the impact on the environment if coffee pulp in coffee growing regions was put on degraded soil. Since forests are a great way to take CO2 out of the air and lock it into the forest, this could have a great benefit in protecting the planet. Coffee pulp might even become an export crop for other countries to use on their depleted soils!
So…if this use of coffee pulp becomes the norm, think of how good you’ll feel drinking your morning coffee!
(Reported British Ecological Society)
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