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Colombia uses coffee grounds to build sturdy houses

Published: 2026-07-14 Author: World Gafei

Last Updated: 2026/07/14, Lokeshoka is one of the tens of thousands of Colombians who depend on the coffee industry. He works as a grinder in a coffee company in Bogota. Born into a family of architects in Bucaramanga, Locke worked as an architect with his father when he was young, and later learned to be a coffee grinder when he hurt his foot. Coffee will produce a lot of coffee grounds and coffee grounds in the process of grinding.

Lockeshoka is one of the tens of thousands of Colombians who depend on the coffee industry. He works as a grinder in a coffee company in Bogota. Born into a family of architects in Bucaramanga, Locke worked as an architect with his father when he was young, and later learned to be a coffee grinder when he hurt his foot.

Coffee in the grinding process will produce a large number of coffee grounds, coffee grounds are not only hard, but also poor taste, not even for livestock feed, can only be thrown away as waste. It was hard for Locke to see countless bags of coffee grounds being dragged out of the factory and directly dumped or buried.

Once, Roxer was grinding coffee in the factory as usual. while debugging a cup of coffee, he accidentally tipped the sugar bottle over a pile of coffee grounds. When he was ready to clean it up before he got off work, he didn't expect that the coffee grounds had formed so firmly that they couldn't even be broken. Roxer was suddenly inspired: since it is so solid, what if coffee grounds are made into building materials?

Of course, it is not appropriate to use sugar as an auxiliary material to process building materials, so what can be used instead of sugar, which is neither perishable nor firm? After visiting countless construction materials factories, Loxer finally chose to use PS powder, which is cheap and strong, and the most important thing is non-toxic and harmless, green and environmentally friendly. Locke tried to mix PS powder and coffee grounds into hard columns and plates that could be used instead of wood to reduce damage to the forest.

Loxer then applied for a patent to the Colombian government. The government attached great importance to it and sponsored Loxer to set up a coffee grounds material manufacturing company.

A year later, Locksey's first batch of coffee grounds finally came out, and he built a "sample house" with a bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room in the park at a cost of less than $7,000. After testing, engineers found that living in such a house, even if encountered landslides, do not be afraid, no stone can have enough strength to squash it!

Coffee grounds material soon became the first choice for people to build houses, and coffee grounds houses have become a model for a new generation of Colombians. In just one year, Locksey has successively established general distribution in more than a dozen cities, including Medellin, Kali, Barranquia, Cartagena, and even countless countries with strong environmental protection concepts, including China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Also began to fly orders to it, a scene that supply exceeds demand!

With his bold ideas and unique wisdom, Locke successfully rewrote not only the fate of coffee grounds, but also his own life. In the October 2010 issue of Fortune magazine, an article commented on Locke and his coffee grounds composite: "how incredible it sounds to build a house out of coffee grounds, but Locksey did it." he added a unique highlight in history to the entire construction industry.

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