ABOUT
With a very welcome rise in the awareness of the need to recycle and repurpose used coffee grounds from thousands of coffee outlets around the globe, it is becoming a more common practice to offer the coffee grounds back to the consumer, to be taken home and used in their own gardens. There are also a growing number of other more commercial schemes that look to recover the used coffee grounds from coffee shops to reprocess into new products such as soil conditioners, biomass fuel, bio diesel, flavourings, oils, mushroom substrate, essences, stains and many other products besides.
The PURPOSE
& The PRODUCT
The Knock Out Buddy is a simple mechanical device by design to enable the discharge of used coffee waste from the portafilter (handle of an espresso machine) into a ‘coffee bag’ in a coffee shop style environment whilst simultaneously enabling specific advertising space and opportunity. The purpose of this gadget is to enable the operator the ability to offer used coffee grounds to their customers to take home (for use in their own gardens), or to return the used coffee grounds neatly in a sealed bag to a re-processor of used coffee grounds
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Currently the majority of coffee houses use a "Knock out drawer", usually situated under the grinder, which has a bar for knocking the portafilter onto. When this drawer is filled up, or at the end of the day, the operator will then be required to empty the drawer into other containers or bags to enable storage of the product until collection.
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This process can be time consuming and messy if trying to put the grounds into smaller bags for the consumer to take away.
We considered that one of the best ways to store the used coffee grounds (UCG) was in the original package it arrives in. The majority of coffee shops receive their coffee beans in 1kg foil lined bags fitted with degassing valves.
We realise that if we are to expect the coffee houses to use these bags to store the UCG in, we needed to make it super easy and efficient to get the grounds back into the bags.
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Taking the process back to the beginning, we thought why don't we discharge the UCG directly into the bags that the beans arrived in.
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The DESIGN
We spent time designing and prototyping a number of different methods of discharging the coffee directly back into the freshly opened coffee bags. Our designs had revolved around the principle of attaching the bag to a stand with an integrated knock bar, this presented a number of issues of stability and size of footprint.
The "eureka" moment occurred when we were trying to overcome one of our design briefs, which was to ensure the empty bag continued to display the coffees brand during its secondary purpose of collecting the UCG, we considered putting the knock out 'gadget' INSIDE the bag!
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Very quickly, this proved to be the perfect solution to all the different key areas of the design brief, and the Knock Out Buddy was born!
Application No:
GB1821294.4
The OPERATION
We believe that the key to the K.O.B's success is its simplicity and ease of use.
Simply follow the steps below.
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Step 1. Cut the fresh bag of beans neatly near the top seal
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Step 2. Empty the beans into the grinder hopper
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Step 3. Slide the K.O.B into the empty bag
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Step 4. Place on a firm, flat & even base on the rubber mat provided
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Step 5. Use the knock out bar to discharge your UCG
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Step 6. Continue until bag is nearly full
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Step 7. Hold base of bag and firmly pull up using the knock bar as a handle.
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Step 8. Seal the full bag and store ready for recycling
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Step 9. Rinse K.O.B
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Step 10. Repeat process
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SUPER EASY!
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It's SO Easy!
KEY BENEFITS
By putting the Knock Out Buddy (K.O.B) inside the empty bag, it presented a number of significant benefits and advantages over the traditional method of collecting coffee grounds currently available on the market.
SAVINGS CALCULATORS
Time saving using The Knock Out Buddy
Savings compared to using a standard knock out drawer, on average
it takes 6 minutes to empty a knock out drawer into an empty 1kg bag
and then to rinse it clean ready for re-use, where Knock Out Buddy
achieves this in just 20 seconds!
*This time and wage savings chart assumes operating 6 days per week, 6 minute emptying time of standard
knock out drawer and an average wage of £9/hr.
Waste saving using The Knock Out Buddy
Saving made by offering your Used Grounds to your customers, used
coffee grounds are a great source of nutrients for soil conditioning and
so make the perfect garden fertilizer. It will not only offer your customer
a free garden product, it will actively reduce your waste disposal costs!
*This waste savings chart assumes operating 6 days per week, 40% water content of used grounds and an
average of £10/lift of a 240Ltr food waste bin containing a maximum of 90kg of food waste.
*This waste savings chart assumes operating 6 days per week, 40% water content of used grounds and an
average of £10/lift of a 240Ltr food waste bin containing a maximum of 90kg of food waste.
Reducing Carbon Emissions
Used Coffee Grounds impact on the environment
=
=
1000 kg
Carbon
Emission
Offset
For every Knock Out Buddy sold, we pledge to plant a fruit tree in a developing world country through The Green Earth Appeal, which will not only offset 1000kg of Carbon Emmissions, but will offer food,
shelter and employment for 3rd world communities.
Follow our progress here
You can also get involved by donating to our initiative directly here, click on the link above and pledge your support for only £1.50
NEW
IMPROVED
ERGONOMIC
DESIGN
NEW DESIGN FEATURES:
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New Slimline Design to achieve a better fit in a wider range of bags including 1kg Stand Up Pouch, Side Gusset & Box Bottom bags.
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New patented Triangular knock out bar for more precise knocking out.Less chance of splashing and less force required.
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Barista facing camber, to make the KOB more stable and easier to use.
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GET in TOUCH
We would love to hear from you - get in touch to discuss how we can help to
improve your used coffee grounds recycling.