About the Project
Turning everyday materials into opportunities for circular action
CAPPUCCINO brings together researchers, educators, students, community members, and other partners to explore how campus-based circular economies can support people and the planet.
Project Overview
What is CAPPUCCINO?
CAPPUCCINO stands for Circular Action for People and Planet: Using Coffee and Creativity in Innovative Networks and Operations .
It is a collaborative project between the University of Birmingham and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, supported through the BRIDGE Sustainability Seed Fund.
The project brings together diverse areas of expertise to explore sustainable circular economies at the intersection of research, education, innovation, and civic engagement.
CAPPUCCINO uses spent coffee grounds from campus cafés as an accessible starting point. Rather than treating these grounds simply as waste, the project asks how they might become a useful resource for new products, services, learning experiences, enterprises, and community partnerships.
At a glance
Partner Universities:
University of Birmingham
University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign
Initial funding:
BRIDGE Sustainability Seed Fund
Starting material:
Spent coffee grounds from campus cafés
Core areas:
Research, education, innovation, and civic engagement
A SHARED STARTING POINT
Why Use Spent Coffee Grounds?
Coffee connects campuses, businesses, communities, producers, and consumers. Its grounds provide a tangible way to investigate what a more circular system could look like.
01
Widely Available
Campus cafés generate spent coffee grounds regularly, making them a visible and familiar material around which people can collaborate.
02
Rich in possibilities
Project discussions have explored possible uses in areas such as mushroom cultivation, food products, composite materials, cosmetics, creative work, and other applications.
03
A model for broader action
The focus on coffee grounds creates a case study for thinking about other campus material streams and circular-economy opportunities.