Coffee Joe says he read an article about Chickens and Coffee Chaff on a blog from the fertile mind of Lyanda Haupt a nature writer in the urban setting of Seattle.A friend of hers used the term “upcycling”. David Ruggiero, owner of Northwest Upcycling, convinced her to try coffee chaff as a replacement for wood chips in her chicken coop.
CJ wondered what upcycling meant. According to Wikipedia, it was first used by Reiner Pilz in 1994. In 2002, William McDonough and Michael Braungart explained it further in their book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.
“It means the prevention of wasting potentially useful materials by making use of existing ones. This reduces the consumption of new raw materials when creating new products. Reducing the use of new raw materials can result in a reduction of energy usage, air pollution, water pollution and even greenhouse gas emissions.”
On her blog, Lyanda says she was a little sceptical at first, but gave it a chance. The chickens loved it, the coop smelled wonderful, the chaff clumped easily for removal and best of all, the coffee chaff was free!
If you’re worried about using any kind of coffee chaff, not just organic, don’t. Due to the high temperatures in the roasting process being so intense, any potential chemicals would have been burned away.
So, give your coffee roasting company a call. Your chickens will love you for it, and so will your landfill.
CHAFF 
= EGGS 
= NO LANDFILL
Tags: upcycling;coffee chaff
