Fun Ways to Use and Reuse Coffee

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I passed this city tree and saw coffee grounds, still in their filters, surrounding it. My guess is the tree's caretakers are using the grounds to repel passing dogs from peeing on it. (Did you know dog pee is bad for trees? I must admit, I just recently discovered this and feel terrible for all the times I let little Cocoa have a go at Brooklyn trees. Oh well. Live, learn, repent!)

Used coffee grounds keep a city tree and its plant friends healthy.

I've used coffee grounds to make my own facial scrub and to eliminate fridge funk. I've also used coffee beans to clear my scent palate (I may have made up this term, but you know, to reset my sense of smell) when choosing essential oils to work with. I wondered how else spent coffee grounds could be used.

I discovered this list of 20 Unusual Uses for Coffee at EcoSalon. The article describes home, beauty, and pet care uses for spent coffee grounds as well as unused whole or ground coffee beans. Other interesting coffee uses I look forward to trying are:

• scrubbing food grime from pots and pans
• making a coffee air freshener
• filling in scratches on wood furniture
• as a hair rinse
• to dye/age paper for art journaling projects

Have you used coffee for anything interesting lately?

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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