Doing Good

At Excelso we pride ourselves on doing the best for both people and planet. 

WASTE REDUCTION & RECYCLING

We endeavour to reduce the amount of waste we produce, recycle as much as possible instead of throwing away, and reuse or upcycle items where possible. 

Our biggest initiative at present is to promote BYO containers.  For coffee drinks and for coffee beans.  We encourage customers to bring their own and this helps to reduce an enourmous amount of waste.

Coffee Grinds

Every day across the world millions of cups of coffee are consumed. The coffee grounds that are left over can be recycled very effectively in the garden.

  • Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering for a slow-release nitrogen.  The dark colour also absorbs heat from the sun and can help the soil to warm up.
  • Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance.  Coffee filters break down rapidly during composting too.  The carbon to nitrogen ratio of coffee grounds is similar to grass clippings and because it is ground, it will break down faster.
  • Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertiliser.  Add the grounds to your watering can, let it warm up a bit and you will have a nitrogen-rich feed that you can use on your plants.  The feed will be slightly acidic - good for use on acid-loving plants such as camellias, azaleas, gardenias, hydrangeas, rhododendrons and blueberries. 
  • Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable gardens.
  • Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.  Slugs and snails don't like the caffeine or the gritty texture of coffee.  If cats are a problem using your garden as a litter box, they may get 'confused' with the smell of coffee and 'go' elsewhere.
  • If you have worms in your compost, they love coffee.

Chaff is a by-product of coffee roasting and breaks down even more quickly than coffee grounds. Just ask us to put some in a bag for you.

Newspapers & Packaging

There is always an overabundance newspapers, packaging and cartons to deal with when bringing and sending out coffee. Following are some the initiatives we take to reduce and recycle these items:

  • we recycle our daily newspapers we use them to package 'breakables' and machines
  • boxes/cartons from inwards goods are recycled to use for our outwards goods
  • any bubble-wrap or styrofoam chips are also re-used to package our outwards good

Coffee Sacks

The hessian sacks are always available in the shop. They are $5 and this goes to our Coffee for Water program providing clean drinking water in rural Cambodia.

Our sacks are also recycled into re-useable carry bags, which are available for purchase in our shop.  They are also made into plant pot covers. 

Wooden Pallets

There is an incredible site:  1001 things to do with wooden pallets to get some great ideas. We store them outside our factory premises and if there are any stacked up you are welcome to recycle them.