Starbucks to Save the World with Distributing Coffee Grounds…

From the Turkish Daily News:
“Starbucks Turkey, which operates 67 shops in six cities around Turkey, gives coffee grounds to be used as fertilizer for free to everyone that asks for it. The staff refills the raw coffee bags with the coffee grounds of all the coffee sold that day. At the end of the day these bags full of coffee grounds are available free of charge for anyone who wants to take them as fertilizer.”

I couldn’t get the point here actually. What does this supposed to do with an environmentalist practice? Those grinds you are going to take would only save your garden soil from bugs or such. And for your crops to be more productive with such a fertilizing method, you need tens of kilos of those grounds. Besides, not every type of coffee ground is suitable to use as a fertilizer. You need very finely grounded coffee like espresso and I don’t think that all the grounded espressos in the stores will not go any further than finding a place in your small indoor flower pots. And if it works, that’ll create a unique fashion among our “sensitive” Starbucks shoppers to go for their next espresso if they want to see another $3 dollar blossom.

Starbucks Coffee Turkey Brand Implementation Manager explains the practice:
“Today, by reason of the damage in nature various environmental problems such as global warming urge us to be sensitive about the earth. In this context, we believe, any little contribution creates a big difference in saving our world.”

Oh just come on! Giving away a waste, which is completely not harmful to the environment in the first place, as a fertilizer that is almost impossible to be used by the people who shop from Starbucks is not a contribution. (Seriously, you need to have a look at the demographics.) And for a starter, if Starbucks wants to save the world on its own behalf, it would try giving a better cut to supplier producers/farmers, from its extraordinary profits.
I’m not telling this in a socialist and (such) anti-global context, just saying this as a coffee lover who is publishing a business ethics blog.