ARTICLES
Stimulus Material for depth studies, courtesy of Macquarie University (continued)
Turning coffee waste into coffee cups
A Macquarie University PhD in Molecular Sciences student believes he’s come up with a way to turn coffee
waste into biodegradable plastic coffee cups. He’s developed a method to turn coffee grounds into lactic acid,
which can then be used to produce biodegradable plastics, and is now refining the process as he finishes his
PhD.
“Australians consume six billion cups of coffee every year, and the coffee grounds used to make these coffees
are used only once and then discarded,” says researcher Dominik Kopp. “In Sydney alone, over 920 cafes and
coffee shops produced nearly 3,000 tonnes of waste coffee grounds every year.
“Ninety-three per cent of this waste ends up in landfill, where it produces greenhouse gases that contribute to
global warming.” However, 50 per cent of coffee grounds are made up of sugars, which are ideal candidates to
convert into valuable bio-based chemicals, or chemicals derived from plant- or animal-based feedstocks rather
than crude oil.
“Our group is looking for new ways to convert biowaste—whether that be agricultural, garden, paper or
commercial food waste—into valuable raw materials that can be used to produce high-value compounds in
more environmentally-friendly ways,” says Molecular Sciences’ Anwar Sunna, who is Dominik’s supervisor and
head of the Sunna Lab.
Dominik was awarded the INOFEA Early Career Award for Applied Biocatalysis or Nanobiotechnology for the
poster he presented on his research at the 18th European Congress on Biotechnology last month.
Find out more
Syllabus link: Investigating science syllabus Module 5
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 67 NO 4