A Finnish innovation in recycling: coffee grounds from the vessel restaurants now end up in bags of soil

31. October 2024

Almost all waste generated on board Viking Line’s vessels is transported ashore for recycling, reuse or composting. During the spring, we began collecting coffee grounds as material for garden soil in partnership with VG EcoFuel. The recycling of coffee grounds reduces the need for virgin peat moss in soil production.

Coffee grounds are collected from five of Viking Line’s vessels along with cooking oil from the onboard restaurants. The coffee grounds are then transported to Saarijärvi in central Finland to be used as raw material for Finnish-based Berner Oy’s GreenCare range of fertilizer products, which was launched last spring. The restaurants’ cooking oil is used to make hydrotreated vegetable oil – HVO, a biological substitute for diesel. The collection of materials is managed by VG EcoFuel, part of the Finnish shipping company Meriaura Group.

“The recycling of cooking oil and coffee grounds is a good example of material flows based on a circular economy, which we are actively trying to create with our partners. What is essential here is that the materials are recycled together – that way, transport is more efficient and emissions  per unit collected are reduced. We at Viking Line have a long tradition of waste recycling: we started doing this on our vessels back in the 1980s in order to protect the Baltic Sea and its vulnerable archipelago environment. Today we strive to sort all waste on our vessels and recycle everything possible, from cans to textiles. We never release wastewater into the sea,” says Viking Line’s Sustainability Manager, Dani Lindberg.

Viking Line is one of Berner Oy’s biggest partners. Berner Oy, which produces soil among other products, picks up coffee grounds from Viking Line on a regular basis. It collects coffee grounds from thousands of different partners – shipping companies as well as hotels, restaurants, petrol stations, shopping centres and conference venues.

“We are really pleased that we have finally succeeded in tackling the logistical challenge of collecting coffee grounds together with our partners. It is actually the first time in the world that coffee grounds are collected in a systematic way to produce plant growth substrates. Previously, this material was mostly used as ground fill. For a 40-litre bag of soil, we use grounds from about 560 cups of coffee. One significant environmental benefit is that, as a result, we can reduce the amount of virgin peat in soil by about 30 per cent,” says Jussi Petäjä, Home Garden Category Manager at Berner Oy.

Last year, a total of 1,475 tonnes of food waste was collected from Viking Line’s vessels. That yielded about 112,000 cubic metres of biogas, which corresponds to 127,000 litres of petrol. This amount of energy is equivalent to the annual electricity used by about 800 apartments or 60 single-home dwellings heated by electricity.

The restaurants on Viking Line’s vessels work continuously with great determination to reduce the environmental impact of operations. Along with making recycling more efficient, the focus is on food waste, which is reduced in part by serving individually-sized portions in the buffets and carefully monitoring the demand for food. In early September, Viking Line launched a food waste project on Viking Glory and Viking Grace, in which all leftover food is weighed and analysed. As a result, it can be determined how much waste is surplus food and how much waste is left on plates.

“A big thank you to the staff in our vessel restaurants for their fantastic attitude, although this kind of project always entails a bit of extra work. On the other hand, it is certainly really worthwhile since our employees get measurable data about their environmental work and the impact this has,” says Dani Lindberg.

How we recycle at Viking Line

Food waste: Food waste collected on board the vessels continues its circular journey as raw material for biogas, and coffee grounds have been used since the spring as raw material for home garden soil.

Textiles: The Finnish textile recycling service Rester Oy accepts old textiles and recycles them. Textiles from the vessels are broken down into fibres that can be used to produce new material.

Glass: In 2023, 286 tonnes of glass packaging was recycled on Viking Line’s vessels. When recycled glass is melted to produce new glass, 20 per cent less energy is used compared to using sand, soda and lime as raw materials.

Metal waste: Using steel from recycled cans saves 75 per cent energy compared to production using iron ore. In 2023, Viking Line collected 50 tonnes of metal waste.

Paper: Last year, Viking Line’s vessels sent 346 tonnes of paper and cardboard for recycling. Recycling paper and cardboard packaging reduces the need to cut down new trees. One tonne of  waste paper corresponds to about 14 trees. Paper use has also been reduced in part by using digital screens and by sharing information with customers through digital channels. Viking Line’s tax-free campaign catalogue is now only published digitally, which saves 70 tonnes of paper a year.

For further information:

Dani Lindberg, Sustainability Manager

dani.lindberg@vikingline.com, tel. +358 18 27 000

Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications

johanna.boijer@vikingline.com, tel. +358 18 270 00

Christa Grönlund, Communications Manager

christa.gronlund@vikingline.com, tel. +358 9 123 51