Spent coffee grounds as a non-structural embankment fill material: Engineering and environmental considerations

Abstract

In recent years, research into the engineering properties of highly organic materials have been undertaken to determine their engineering properties when used as road embankment fill materials. A prime contributor of organic wastes in municipal landfills is spent coffee grounds from cafes and domestic households. As part of this research, an extensive suite of engineering and environmental tests were undertaken on spent coffee grounds obtained from several popular cafes in Melbourne, Australia to evaluate their properties and potential use as a non-structural fill material in road embankments. The suite of engineering tests included, particle size distribution, Atterberg limits, particle den..