Company transforms coffee grounds into biomass and creates carbon credit project

Coffee grounds, one of the most common daily waste products, have found a new sustainable destination in the hands of animal protein broker Luiz Zolet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed an innovative project that transforms the waste into biomass in the form of pellets, a product that can replace firewood and generate carbon credits. The idea emerged in 2019 in Paraná, and gave rise to Bricoffee, a company officially created in March 2022. The project is part of a growing movement in the country in search of sustainable solutions and energy alternatives with a lower environmental impact. The inspiration for the business came in an unusual way. While collecting a neighbor's trash, Zolet noticed that the coffee grounds, after drying, still had potential for reuse. From there, he began a series of tests and research to understand how to transform the waste into something useful. "About 8,000 tons of coffee grounds are discarded every day in Brazil. It's a very large volume ...