This November, a Danish hotel chain will for the first time use personal care products made from their own spent coffee grounds. The Danish biotechnology startup Kaffe Bueno has joined forces with Sinatur Hotel & Konference on a handwash, body and hair wash, and a body lotion, all upcycled from the hotel's spent coffee grounds.
For the first time, a Danish hotel chain’s, Sinatur Hotel & Konference, coffee grounds are being upcycled into personal care products that will be used across their 6 hotels.
Kaffe Bueno upcycled Sinatur’s coffee grounds into a range of cosmetic products - Body Lotion, Hair & Body Wash, and Hand Wash - under a private label brand created by Kaffe Bueno for circular partnerships, called 'RENLI'. The collaboration is based on the initiative to create more natural and sustainable products, by using waste as a resource.
A scalable solution
The circular partnership with Sinatur is the first one of its kind to become a reality. Kaffe Bueno’s new private label ‘RENLI’ will also be available to other companies who wish to make better use of their coffee grounds.
Claus Nielsen, General Manager of Frederiksdal Sinatur Hotel & Konference, said, "The collaboration with Kaffe Bueno provides unbelievably good meaning and value for Sinatur in relation to our own ambitions. It emphasizes that synergies can also be established outside our normal supply chain. Kaffe Bueno is an innovative and far-sighted company that, with their business idea, has created an almost complete circular economy, which at the same time supports many of the UN's World Goals. The fact that our coffee waste in the future can be used in our own amenities such as shampoo, soap and conditioner only make the story complete."
“Our partnership with Sinatur reflects the importance of changing the perception of what we consider as waste. For centuries, coffee grounds have been mistakenly considered waste, when in fact they are a wasted resource. At Kaffe Bueno, we have been working with this circular business model for over four years, as we believe that models like this are necessary for a future where people and nature not only coexist but nurture each other. Fortunately, Sinatur sees the bigger picture and has taken an important step in securing a brighter future.” - says Alejandro Franco, Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder of Kaffe Bueno.
Coffee Grounds, a New Sustainable Health Elixir
The products contain Kaffe Bueno Oil, which is the oil that Kaffe Bueno has derived from the spent coffee grounds. An oil that has scientific evidence for being moisturizing, healing, as well as selectively filtering sunlight.
Coffee grounds contain a lot of compounds beneficial for our health, skin, and well-being. When we brew a cup of coffee, less than 1% of these compounds are being utilized. The remains stay intact in the coffee grounds, which are usually disposed of as waste. Through Kaffe Bueno’s circular biorefinery model, we are able to utilize the remaining 99% in the most valuable way.
In addition to being a sustainable health elixir, coffee grounds paradoxically have a harmful impact on our environment. Almost 10 billion kilograms of coffee are traded yearly worldwide, where Denmark alone consumes over 50 million kilograms yearly. When coffee grounds decompose, they generate methane gas, a gas which is 25-86 times more harmful to the environment than CO2. As a result, the worldwide emissions of coffee waste are equivalent to the yearly emissions of 10 million cars. By utilizing coffee grounds in Kaffe Bueno’s circular business model, the harmful emissions are therefore minimized, while coffee’s health potential can be fully exploited.
For further information on circular partnerships, contact:
Alejandro Franco
alejandro@kaffebueno.com