Reuse of coffee grounds

Systemic design project for reusing coffee grounds
June 2014 - Turin, Italy
Academic Project

The purpose of this project is to build a new effective system, according to the systemic research method. Together with my team, we decided to work on the reuse of exhausted coffee grounds since Lavazza (a worldwide coffee producer) has a close relationship with the Politecnico di Torino. Our research started by analyzing both the actual flows of coffee consumption at home and at the bar. We understood the quantities, the ways for drinking it and the production of wastes in these places. But non only: we also tried to analyze in a more specific way all the processes happening behind the cups people usually drink, like the growth and the harvest, the transportation and the roasting and, of course, the final distribution in supermarkets (italian acronym: GDO). We are aware on the fact that the project we are focusing on is taking care of just the last steps of this huge production chain, that has several weakness and intrinsic problems, but at the same time we would like to sensitize people on the possible solutions and especially on a change of mind and habits. From this research, we produced some videos on YouTube (English, Italian and 中文), a website, several flyer and related business plan and a map with 20 DIY activities that people can do at home for saving money while helping the environment.