Japan Turns Coffee Grounds Into Livestock Feed

In Japan, coffee shops and roasters discard thousands of tons of used coffee grounds each year—but those grounds don’t have to rot in a compost pile. A new initiative is turning that waste into something practical for farms: affordable animal feed.

Starting this autumn, Japanese company Nawa Sangyo will begin selling processed coffee grounds as livestock feed across the country at just ¥6 to ¥7 per kilogram. That’s a fraction of the cost of many traditional feeds, and it puts a high-volume waste product to new use.

Why Coffee Waste Usually Goes Unused

Every year, Japan generates around 100,000 metric tons of used coffee grounds. Traditionally, most of this material ends up as compost due to its high moisture content and tendency to spoil quickly. Its rapid decomposition and lack of dry storage options have made it impractical for most non-composting uses—until now.

How Coffee Grounds Became Animal Feed

Nawa Sangyo developed a method to process these coffee grounds into a safe and nutritious feed material. While the company hasn’t publicly released all processing details, the end product is stable enough for distribution and suitable for livestock consumption. The key advantage is its low price and ready availability, especially compared to conventional feed crops.

A New Option for Japanese Farmers

The feed will be sold nationwide to livestock farmers at an exceptionally low price—just ¥6–7 per kg. For comparison, many standard compound feeds cost significantly more, especially when purchased in smaller quantities. This pricing makes the coffee-based option attractive, particularly for small-scale or cost-sensitive operations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is coffee ground animal feed?

Coffee ground animal feed is a livestock feed product made from processed used coffee grounds. In Japan, Nawa Sangyo is producing it as a low-cost, stable alternative to conventional feeds, using the country’s annual output of around 100,000 tons of discarded coffee grounds.

How much does the coffee feed cost?

Nawa Sangyo will sell the coffee-based animal feed for between ¥6 and ¥7 per kilogram. This is cheaper than many traditional animal feed products, offering a cost-effective option for livestock farmers.

Why wasn’t coffee waste used for feed before?

Previously, used coffee grounds were mostly turned into compost because they contain high moisture, spoil quickly, and are difficult to store. Limited preservation methods made large-scale feed use impractical—until Nawa Sangyo developed a processing method that stabilizes the grounds for animal consumption.

How much coffee waste does Japan produce annually?

Japan produces approximately 100,000 metric tons of coffee grounds every year. Most of this material was previously unused for anything other than compost due to its perishable nature.

Who is Nawa Sangyo?

Nawa Sangyo is the Japanese company behind the new coffee grounds animal feed. It will begin national distribution this autumn, offering the product at ¥6–7 per kg to livestock farmers across the country.

Is this coffee feed available now?

The coffee-based animal feed from Nawa Sangyo is set to go on sale this autumn. It will be available nationwide to livestock farmers at a low price point, providing an alternative use for the country’s large volume of coffee waste.

FrontStreet Coffee Beans for Filter & Roastery Experiments

Try FrontStreet Coffee’s Ethiopia Humbera for a juicy, tea-like Ethiopian single origin with bergamot and stone fruit—ideal for experimenting with brew methods that highlight clarity. Their Yirgacheffe offers bright citrus and floral tones, great for testing grind sensitivity. Both showcase how origin character translates through extraction, just as coffee byproducts find new life in feed. Freshly roasted within 5 days · Orders placed before 17:00 ship the same day · Next-day delivery across most of Guangdong Province.