Turn coffee grounds into a product found in every home

Biến bã cà phê thành sản phẩm có trong mọi nhà - Ảnh 1. — Mr. Nguyen Tan Loc introduces cleaning products and souvenirs made from coffee grounds - Photo: LN

New life cycle for coffee grounds

Loc started testing the first product from coffee grounds 2 years ago, when he saw this material being thrown away every day. Souvenirs such as bronze drum faces made from coffee grounds by Loc Nhan have been chosen as gifts to send to many countries.

The product is made from coffee grounds pellets that Nguyen Tan Loc discovered. Besides, there are also some other products such as coasters, chess sets made entirely from coffee grounds.

Loc said he thought about making his first coffee grounds pellets. Admitting that he was an amateur because he had worked in banking for many years and had no reference product, he still posed many difficult problems for his first pellet formula.

"With coffee grounds, the question is how to bind them. The ingredients must be completely natural, cheap, easy to make, but must create a product with high durability," Loc shared.

No one had worked with coffee grounds before, and searching for documents both domestically and internationally did not yield any positive results, so Loc said he would experiment with many natural materials himself.

"I tried everything anyone told me to do, from tapioca starch, rice flour, and cotton flour. It took me months to make each type, but I was still not satisfied because some didn't create strong enough adhesion, and some were expensive," Loc said.

By chance, he found Litsea powder, which is commonly known as glue powder, used to make incense and animal feed. Litsea is grown widely in the Central Highlands, and is also exported to India.

"The combination of coffee grounds and Litsea can create a compressed material with the hardness of bricks. The product can be boiled for hours, soaked in water for several days without disintegrating, and can also be laser engraved without smudging or burning," Loc shared.

This pellet recipe can be applied by every coffee shop to make by hand. After the item is damaged and no longer used, it can be decomposed to fertilize plants, or used as fuel. So the coffee grounds have a new life!

Biến bã cà phê thành sản phẩm có trong mọi nhà - Ảnh 2. — Products made from Loc Nhan coffee grounds tablets have very good hardness, can be laser engraved and are water resistant - Photo: LN

Dream of becoming "a product for every home"

"To me, Vietnamese coffee is not just for drinking but more than that. The potential of coffee grounds is huge. If coffee brands have the slogan "Elevating Vietnamese coffee", then Loc Nhan's slogan will be to elevate the value of Vietnamese coffee grounds", Loc shared.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Loc (Loc Nhan Coffee Recycling Company)

My wish is that every Vietnamese household has a Loc Nhan product. We currently produce kitchen cleaner, floor cleaner, toilet cleaner, car spray, and hand sanitizer from coffee grounds completely without using chemicals.

Along with products made from compressed coffee grounds and tablets, Loc Nhan Coffee Recycling Company Limited also researches and explores formulas to produce quite effective deodorizing products from coffee grounds.

According to him, the applications of coffee grounds are very diverse. They do not stop at pellets. When combining raw materials and agricultural by-products, they can create burning pellets, cat and dog litter, etc. But he chose to start with pellets and deodorant spray products.

However, the difficulties of a startup business are countless because of the diversity of cleaning products on the market. Not to mention that people are too familiar with using chemical cleaning products, it is quite convenient to buy those popular products in stores and supermarkets.

Recently, he has focused on car deodorizers, a niche market that he sees as full of potential.

"Coffee grounds deodorizer effectively removes odors and cleans stains and grease very well. But it will take a long time for people to change their habit of using chemicals to purely natural ingredients," Loc said.

Biến bã cà phê thành sản phẩm có trong mọi nhà - Ảnh 4.

Coffee Talk of Tuoi Tre Start-up Award 2024: How to judge the special prize

Tuoi Tre Start-up Award 2024 is organized by Tuoi Tre newspaper and the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union, in collaboration with the Business Startup Support Center (BSSC) and the Vietnam Packaging Recycling Alliance (PRO Vietnam).

The judging panel will contact and connect with startups through the special Coffee Talk judging format. Promising startups will be honored at the gala scheduled to be held in November 2024.

In addition to sharing stories in the press, startup projects participating in the program have the opportunity to access many investment funds as well as have their images communicated and promoted to the community.

The top 20 startups selected for the final round will receive financial support from the following organizations: VinaCapital, ACB Bank, Volvo, KN Group, Dai-ichi Life Vietnam, An Hoa, Faslink, Ecco Golf Vietnam, Tin Nghia...

New life cycle for coffee grounds

Dream of becoming "a product for every home"

Coffee Talk of Tuoi Tre Start-up Award 2024: How to judge the special prize

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