The Social Entrepreneur Series - Dean Sprague
With over 2.5 billion cups of coffee served each day and the lack of options for disposing coffee grind, Dean Sprague came up with a brilliant solution.
Q . You offer coffee waste-management ‘from the seed, to the fruit, to the cup’, can you elaborate on this process?
Not a lot of people realise just how many processes are involved to create a single cup of coffee. I am really lucky to be able to work closely with coffee growers in Northern Thailand to implement sustainable agriculture principles into their existing growing practices. I've been involved in planting coffee seeds, maintaining the growing trees and harvesting the ripe berries. Being so intimately involved in the early stage of the growing phase gives an insightful opportunity to learn about any practices that could benefit their harvesting, whether that's helping with safer lifting techniques or choosing the optimum picking conditions.
“an estimated 2.5 billion cups of coffee are served each day”
My first port of call was the 'frontline' for waste coffee, our cafes. I've set up a social enterprise called Single Origin Skincare which reclaims and upcycles used coffee ground from cafes and we then create small-batch luxury organic skincare products such as soaps, scrubs, beard oils and so on.
The best thing about the enterprise is that it can be set up literally anywhere around the globe that serves coffee; an estimated 2.5 billion cups of coffee are served each day -so that's a lot of choice for location; the model is designed to be a source of local employment and broader educational benefits as well. It closes the loop on waste coffee, the cafe owner can stock their upcycled coffee ground into these beautiful value-added products, or use them in their own facilities.
Q. You previously had an established 30-year career as a chef, what made you transition into the business development of Single Origin Skincare?
Actually, it was a slow transition! I was curious about food in my early career so went back to Uni to do some applied science, I majored in food technology so I became quite process-focused about food production from fine dining to community food projects. It was around fifteen years ago I realised how much I enjoyed taking action wherever food security was an issue, my heart leaps when I get the opportunity to offer food in a nurturing environment. That led me into advocacy for food system issues, especially concerning food waste and hunger. I still cook professionally today, and love the incredible journey I've taken, where my heart really rings is when I can set up a food growing system that benefits the community.
Q, Having identified a problematic practice of coffee grounds wastage in the food industry, you have provided an invaluable solution to this issue. How did you come up with the idea for this in the first place?
“90% of cafes simply don't know what to do with their used coffee ground”
I dived deep into the stages of coffee production from grower to roaster. Once roasted beans are ground and served in a cafe as our latte, macchiato or espresso they are caught in a 'knock box' until it either fills or the end of day arrives. Because there's little communication for just 'what to do' with this waste coffee from local or even international government, most waste coffee ends up in landfill; and once it reaches landfill it breaks down into CO2 and methane which rise into our atmosphere and further deplete the ozone layer, contributing in a negative-sense to the Greenhouse Effect.
I found that 90% of cafes simply don't know what to do with their used coffee ground, it's often messy and heavy and if it isn't treated correctly can ferment and spoil very quickly and is quite a noxious mess. I treat used coffee ground with the respect it deserves, and certainly with starry-eyed love for the magical bean!
Q. Do you source all your coffee grounds from Australia or do you also source from other areas of the world?
All ingredients are single origin sourced dealing with sustainable and ethical contributors in all aspects of the coffee supply chain. I create bespoke skincare products based on the coffee flavour and scent profiles, so each batch will be unique. All ingredients are sourced locally wherever possible using sustainably driven cafes and roasters, the coffee itself is single origin primarily Kenyan, Guatemalan, Papua New Guinean and a few other locations when they become available.
Q, Further elaborating on the previous question, do you target local cafes as well as larger corporations, for example, Gloria Jeans or Starbucks?
I prefer speaking with cafe owners, unfortunately some of the larger national and multinational organisations are a lot harder to speak with, I've approached Starbucks a number of times and I pretty much get passed from desk to desk! A good learning curve opportunity for the way I run the enterprise, responsive and nimble enough to be able to pivot to meet any challenges or opportunities.
Q What inspired you to implement community projects aimed to break the cycle of illiteracy in children within South East Asia?
By working directly with coffee growers in Northern Thailand it became apparent that a lot of children in the region are too remote to attend any formal schooling, especially during harvest season when everyone in the community is involved in picking, sorting and drying. These kids weren't attending school so I started bringing books with me to read to them, silly stuff like Dr Suess etc. I've been involved in SBN the School Broadcasting Network which develops multimedia for youth for a few years now, and recently helped create some of the stories for "Tell Me a Story Google", so I started making stories for the kids in these remote regions based around food, they're a sneaky way to both learn English and sustainable agriculture!
The best thing is that we have a sustainable edible garden which grows enough nutritionally rich food to help feed the community, and we're now starting to look at ways of value-adding their produce with some (chef inspired!) jams, chutneys and more!
Q. What has been your greatest achievement thus far with Single Origin Skincare and what are your goals for the future?
Each month over the last two years I've managed to reclaim more and more waste coffee, I know I'm making an impact with the efforts of SOS, and the organisation is growing as awareness of the issues become apparent. I feel like I can help save our skin AND save our planet!
The next stage is to set up another waste coffee catchment, to help ease unemployment and to create new opportunities in Melbourne or regional Victoria.
Dean Sprague - Founder of Single Origin Skincare