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GROUND2GROUND - REUSE INITIATIVE
Human-Centered Design, Jan-May 2023
Role: Designer, Interviewer
Skills: User Research, UI/UX Design, Animation
OVERVIEW
Coffee grounds are New York City's most wasted food product despite nutrient-rich properties perfect for compost.
Ground2Ground tackles this issue through a mobile app that connects local coffee shops to users who are willing to transport the grounds to nearby community gardens. In return, they can earn rewards like a free coffee, making it an easy way for users to fuel themselves and their communities!
THE PROBLEM
Coffee grounds are the number one source of waste in NYC –
an overlooked resource that could be repurposed locally as compost to support small farms and community gardens.
How can I design an app that pairs with a community initiative and helps repurpose and redirect coffee grounds to a space that actually needs it?
RESEARCH
Competing options for coffee ground composting
Starbucks Program
Starbucks' "Grounds for Your Garden" represents a popular but limited approach to coffee-ground reuse. While many Starbucks locations offer spent coffee grounds for free, the system places the responsibility of reuse on the individual. Customers must move the grounds themselves.
There is no built-in pathway that connects these grounds to local farms or community gardens, nor is there any incentive for participation.
Although Starbucks positions itself as a sustainability leader, its model lacks community integration and does not close the loop between coffee ground generation and local reuse.
Curbside Composting
Curbside composting, on the other hand, offers a more structured and accessible solution for diverting coffee grounds from landfills. Grounds collected through municipal composting programs are ultimately turned into compost, supporting the environment.
However, this system is largely invisible to participants: individuals are not compensated or informed about where their waste goes.
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Additionally, coffee shops do not act as sustainability ambassadors within this model. they simply dispose of waste, maintaining a passive relationship to the composting process.
GROUND2GROUND'S COMPETITIVE EDGE
Ground2Ground makes coffee-ground repurposing into an incentivized and community-driven system. Unlike Starbucks or curbside composting, it actively rewards participation through an app, making waste diversion engaging rather than passive. By directly connecting coffee shops to small farms and community gardens, Ground2Ground keeps compost local and impact visible.
EMPLOYEE INTERVIEWS
Next, I interviewed two coffee shop employees who regularly handle the disposal of used coffee grounds.
One participant worked at Blue Bottle, a chain coffee shop that disposes of its grounds through sanitation services, while the other worked at a campus café already involved in a coffee-grounds composting initiative.
Interviewee A
Blue Bottle
“We get rid of about 25–40 pounds of coffee grounds every day, and it costs us roughly 15 cents per pound to have them picked up by NYC sanitation.”
Interviewee B Campus Café
“Coffee grounds are great for compost, but you need people to pick them up regularly. If they sit too long, they get moldy, so consistent transport is really important.”
VISITING OUR COMMUNITY GARDENS
Finally, I went to community gardens in Morningside Heights and Harlem to speak with garden leaders about their composting practices and interest in adding coffee grounds "to the mix". I interviewed leaders from the Julia Gabriel People’s Garden and Carrie McCracken Truce Garden, both walking distance from campus.
They explained that their compost systems are volunteer-run and actively maintained on the weekends.
Both gardens confirmed they would welcome coffee grounds in their compost if drop-offs were coordinated.
Julia Gabriel People's Garden - corner of 111th & Amsterdam
Carrie McCracken Truce Garden -117th & St. Nicholas Ave
THE SOLUTION
1) Connect with local coffee shops to pick up grounds + earn rewards
Features:
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Connection model inspired by Too Good To Go, leveraging rewards to reduce food-based waste
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Simple interface that allows users to select nearby coffee shops with available coffee grounds
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Reward-based pickups, where users earn a free coffee once pickup and drop-off are confirmed​
2) Explore nearby community gardens and coordinate dropoff
Features:​
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Discover nearby community gardens that could use coffee grounds in their compost mixture
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Encourages neighborhood exploration by providing connection with community members
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Schedule pickup times directly in the app to fit conveniently into users’ daily routines​
ANIMATION
I created an animation in Canva to show how simple the exchange process is.
I limited the story to two environments, the coffee shop and community garden, to make it easy to follow.
A simple, playful visual style reinforces how low-effort the process is, while showing the value of the initiative: free rewards and the satisfaction of helping your community.
LEARNINGS
Put yourself in the app user's shoes – think about what the biggest motivators to pick up and transport coffee grounds would be.
Talking to members of the local community gardens helped me understand their existing compost programs run by volunteers.