Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > On Sep 24, 2006, at 10:40 AM, Adam Maas wrote: > >> Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: >>>>>> FWIW, our local Starbucks saves their used grounds and gives them >>>>>> away in 10 >>>>>> pound bags for free, just for this purpose. >>>>> "Starbucks" and "free" rarely fit in the same sentence. They'll >>>>> probably fire your local manager if the corporate bosses find out. >>>> He/she/it is saving commercial waste disposal rates, so will be >>>> commended. OTOH, it is therefore probably illegal in any country >>>> with >>>> environmental laws of any description. >>> Both of the most local Starbux Coffee shops do this too. >>> >>> I don't know what would be environmentally unfriendly about it ... >>> coffee grounds and paper filters compost nicely, better than a lot of >>> other things. >>> >> Environmental Laws and Environmentally safe are often at direct odds. >> Something can be perfectly safe to the environment (Or even >> beneficial) >> and be against environmental laws. > > Not sure why you posted that commentary, Adam. > > - Are you aware of some laws which do not permit composting of coffee > grounds and paper filters? > - I don't know of anything environmentally unfriendly about the > practice ... do you? > > Made me curious so I did a search on "compost coffee" and got quite a > few links: > > http://www.sustainableenterprises.com/Business/coffeefert.htm > http://gardening.wsu.edu/stewardship/compost/coffee.htm > http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/soil/2002015354019975.html > http://www.mastercomposter.com/survey/coffee.html > http://freebies.about.com/cs/free/l/blstarbucks.htm > http://www.peets.com/who_we_are/community_soil.asp?rdir=1&; > http://frugalliving.about.com/od/uncommonuses/a/coffeegrounds.htm > > I also did a search on "compost coffee legal issues" and got a few > somewhat more abstruse links: > > http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/coffeeFAQ.html > <http://www.crn.org.uk/regional/sw/downloads/ > schcompdevoncountycouncil.pdf#search=%22compost%20legal%20issues%22> > <http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/PDFS/CompChal.pdf#search=%22compost% > 20legal%20issues%22> > http://www.elc.uvic.ca/getinvolved/index.htm > > Interesting reading for some. Boring as heck for others. ;-) > > Godfrey > >
Godfrey, I'm not aware of any laws about composting coffee, but commercial waste (such as cofffee grounds from a store or restaurant) are typically restricted in how you dispose of them, such that simply giving 10lb bags away may well be illegal in many jurisdictions. One of those (not uncommon) cases where legality and reality are at odds. -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
