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22 Sep 2020

From café to compost

Written by Jacky Brookes
A close-up of a large, bright flower, shaped a little like a sun, against green leaves in the background. It has bright orange petals with a red stripe down the centre of each one. There is a brown ring around the yellow centre.
A kaleidoscope of colour can be enjoyed at Inverewe, including this gazania ‘Takil’.
During Recycle Week 2020, we take a look at how Inverewe Garden is composting its café packaging and coffee granules to benefit its beautiful plants – and save money at the same time!

Much missed during lockdown, we’re delighted that visitors to Inverewe are once again able to experience this beautiful paradise of unusual, rare and wonderful plants from all around the globe.

Many people enjoy a stop at the Bothy Café after their walk around the garden or their Wildlife Boat trip. It’s the ideal relaxing place to enjoy takeaway refreshments, sitting on the outdoor picnic benches or on the lawn in front of Inverewe House, admiring the colour and perfumes of the garden.

A view of a large garden lawn, in front of a white stone house. A wide gravel paths leads to the house along the right of the photo. The lawn has a number of picnic tables and wooden benches spaced out across it. A pale pink rose bush grows in the foreground.
The front lawn of Inverewe House with socially distanced picnic tables for visitors to relax with their takeaway refreshments.

Inverewe is well-known for taking great care with regards to environmental issues such as biodiversity, climate change, energy conservation, water management and the way we handle invasive non-native species. And we’ve now added composting to this list. Both staff and visitors can play their part in ensuring the garden thrives for future generations – whilst enjoying a delicious coffee break!

A view of the front of a chalet-style café building, with wooden slats and a steep arched roof. The double doors have a painted illustration of a green teapot above, pouring liquid onto tall white flowers beside the doors. The building is labelled The Bothy.
The Bothy Café at the centre of Inverewe Garden

The team have introduced a new system for disposing of the café packaging and used coffee granules, which not only cuts down on waste but also helps the garden flourish even more. After visitors have finished their cuppas and snacks, they’re encouraged to place their waste in the bins outside the Bothy Café. The bins are for both ‘composting’ and ‘general waste’.

A lady, with her back to the camera, makes a cup of coffee from a large chrome coffee machine in a cafe. Piles of recyclable cups stand on top of the machine. A menu board of hot drinks is displayed on the wall behind. The woman wears a blue top, an apron and a face mask. A lady wearing a face mask holds a bin lid open with one hand, and drops in a compostable cup using a litter grabber. Two people, only their arms and feet in shot, hold open a black bin bag between them. Inside are lots of recyclable coffee cups and other takeaway packaging. Bins can be seen in the background.

All of the café packaging, including disposable cups, containers and utensils, and the used coffee granules are placed into the compost bin, which is then delivered by the café staff to the gardening team’s compost area. The gardening team traditionally compost all their garden waste and can now include the fully compostable packaging sold at the Bothy Café in this process.

A large compost area is shown, with a small green tractor-type vehicle parked near the 'ready-to-use' pile of compost in the background. In the foreground is a newer pile, with cardboard cups, utensils and packaging seen on top of plant matter.
The cups join the compost heap.

Visitors have warmly responded to this new system. General waste from the catering department has been reduced to one bag a week, from what was one bag a day! This has really helped us to cut down on costs.

A close-up of a bird of paradise flower, with a long smooth stem ending in a sharp point. Towards the end a bright orange petal and a blue spike appear to have erupted from the stalk. A red squirrel perches on a lichen-covered branch, facing the camera head on. Its front claws grip the branch. Its spiky ear tufts stand up straight. It carries a small nut in its mouth.

The benefits are clear to see all around you at Inverewe: the compost nourishes the plants in the garden. The garden abounds with colour and fragrance throughout the year and in turn attracts a great biodiversity – insects, birds, butterflies and moths, an impressive 11 species of dragonfly and damselfly, and of course the Big Five. This biodiversity has seen many firsts recently: 2017 saw Inverewe Garden celebrating a very welcome visitor for the first time in over 20 years – the green pug moth – and 2018 saw a plant flower at Inverewe for the first time in 7 years, the Puya alpestris.

A close-up of a furry-looking green moth, with darker blotches on its wings. It rests on a piece of pale wood with its wings stretched out wide. A close-up of an unusual looking flower, consisting of a thick stalk with lots of buds sticking out from the side. Between these shoots are small, waxy, turquoise, trumpet-shaped flowers with a yellow centre.

Everyone at Inverewe can now play their part in helping to protect this very special place, and it’s clear to see how responsible actions are directly helping the future growth of splendid heritage garden plants.

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