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Taipei's brilliant idea to use coffee grounds skillfully

Published: 2026-04-06 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/04/06, [United Daily News ╱ reporter Chen Yazheng / report from Taipei] there is a vegetable garden on the roof of a building in Tai'an District of Taipei City. What is most special is that it brings together the city government, businessmen, and people in the community to have a space for alternative cooperation, exchange, and dialogue. Bid farewell to the disputes among the municipal government, merchants and residents in the business circle of National Taiwan normal University last year, and the three offices of Gufengli, Longquanli and Jinanli in Da'an District.

[United Daily News/Reporter Chen Yapeng/Taipei Report]

There is a vegetable garden on the roof of a building in Daan District of Taipei City. The most special thing about it is that it links up the city government, businesses and community people with alternative cooperation, exchange and dialogue space.

Farewell to last year's conflict dispute among the city government, merchants and residents in the business circle of Normal University. Nine units, including the offices of Gufengli, Longquanli and Jinanli in Daan District and local organizations, announced yesterday the establishment of the Water and Land Cultural Life Alliance to jointly create a sustainable environment for the community.

The alliance applied to the Taipei City Government last year for the roof of the publicly owned building, the Activity Center in Daan District. The alliance used more than 10 ping of public space to plant all kinds of vegetables and plants in the early spring of half a year ago. More than a month ago, it visited about 10 coffee shops nearby to recycle coffee grounds from each coffee shop and become zero-cost fertilizer.

At first, they went door-to-door and handed out flyers in cafes large and small, said Speyin, a member of the alliance. Some cafes do not know that coffee grounds can also be used as fertilizer, and some fear that coffee grounds will stink for a long time, originally wanted to refuse, but later they prepared a sealed box, so that the store can rest assured.

Now, about three days a week, the alliance collects coffee grounds from these cafes, moves them to rooftop gardens, pours them into large containers on the side, and ferments them for three months to become fertilizer, Speyin said.

Alliance member Yu Wei was the one who came up with this "bad idea". Yu Wei smiled and said,"This coffee grounds are too fat!" There are many cafes in Daan District, and the amount of coffee grounds is very large. Coffee grounds contain nitrogen and trace elements, which are good natural fertilizers and beneficial to some leafy vegetables. Yu Wei further made cylindrical containers of coffee grounds from iron wires and cloth bags. Yu Wei said that because the temperature on the top floor is very high, even if ordinary kitchen waste is added, there is no need to worry about mice and cockroaches running into the container.

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