Nestlé UK is using waste coffee from its Tutbury manufacturing site as a fuel to produce steam for Nescafé production, cutting the amount of waste sent to landfill by 94% since 2024.
The programme supplied 47% of the plant’s total steam needs in 2025, helping reduce the need for conventional fuel to produce steam, Bioenergy Insight reported.
At the Tutbury facility, used coffee beans are first pressed to remove excess moisture. The dried material is then fed into a biomass boiler, where it is burned to generate steam. That steam is fed directly into the Nescafé production process, allowing the plant to use its own coffee waste to help meet its energy needs.
The site has been recycling spent coffee since 2015. However, using it as a fuel has increased the amount that can be put to use. The facility now uses 97.7% of its spent coffee beans as fuel, with only unavoidable contamination left as waste.
Coffee production generates large amounts of used coffee material, providing manufacturers with a steady source of fuel. Nestlé’s system shows how waste produced during manufacturing can be used at the same site to reduce the need for other fuels, particularly at facilities with a consistent demand for steam.
Mike Parr, Industrial Services Manager at Tutbury, said improvements in energy use and waste reduction can have a significant combined effect at large manufacturing facilities.
The company is also examining other production byproducts, including cocoa husks, as potential fuels to increase the amount of renewable steam generated at the site.
The initiative is part of a wider move in the food and beverage industry towards using production waste within manufacturing processes and reducing fossil fuel use.
Nestlé’s experience shows that using a single production byproduct as a fuel can replace a significant share of conventional energy without the need to bring in additional fuel from outside.
