RMIT’s coffee concrete earns Shaping Australia Awards nomination

A research team from RMIT University in Melbourne has been nominated for the 2024 Shaping Australia Awards in the Problem Solver category for their work in transforming spent coffee grounds into concrete.

The Problem Solver Award, presented by Universities Australia, celebrates “groundbreaking research work that has already transformed, or holds the potential to transform, the lives of Australians for the better”.

The research, led by RMIT’s Professor Jie Li, Dr Rajeev Roychand, Dr Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch, and Dr Mohammad Saberian, aims to address the building industry’s sand shortage and reduce waste.

Australia generates 75 million kilograms of ground coffee waste every year. While most of it goes to landfill, it could replace up to 655 million kilograms of sand in concrete because of its density.

While some coffee drinkers compost their spent grounds, most end up in landfills where it produces methane – a gas more than 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat.

The team’s coffee-infused concrete demonstrated a 30 per cent increase in strength compared to traditional mixes and has the potential to replace up to 90 million tonnes of sand.

The coffee concrete is already in use. The research team has partnered with Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) and project contractor BildGroup for the translation of the research into the Victorian government’s Big Build projects.

Finalists for the Problem Solver award will be selected through People’s Choice voting.

Voting will close on 19 January 2025.