Scientists produce cosmetics from spent coffee grounds

The Herald Scotland

30-07-2025

It then used the grounds collected at the festival to create a coffee skin oil which almost sold out on Amazon in just a few weeks.
Revive has also secured further investment of more than £350,000, including another successful crowdfunding campaign, and will be raising more money next year to allow it to scale up production.
Scott Kennedy of Revive Eco said: 'Tons of coffee grounds are thrown out every day, despite the value and the different potential uses of the oil they contain.
'The reaction to our products has been great and a real demonstration of how we can offer an alternative to palm or coconut oil whose use in cosmetics has had such a devastating impact on some of the world's ecosystems.'
He added: 'The manufacturers are looking to change and we believe we have come up with a truly sustainable solution which will not diminish the quality of their product.'
Mr Kennedy and co-founder Fergus Moore first identified the potential of coffee waste when they were students at the University of Strathclyde.
They launched the business in 2015 and moved to BioCity six years later. There they have received support from Pioneer, Scottish Enterprise, Zero Waste Scotland and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
The company now employs six people and anticipates further recruitment this year.
A major breakthrough came in 2021 when Revive's scientists finalised and patented their unique upcycling process and earlier this year a successful pilot project took place with French company SAS Pivert, using grounds supplied by Costa Coffee.
Mr Moore said: 'The next step is to work with a partner to produce coffee oil on a commercial level."
Discussions have already taken place with leading cosmetic companies, but Revive's ambition goes further.
'Spent coffee grounds have always been just the first step for us. Our goal is to demonstrate that we can create value and positive environmental impact from a range of different waste streams,' he added.
John Mackenzie, Director (Scotland) at Pioneer Group – which has Edinburgh Technopole as well as BioCity Glasgow in its portfolio – said: 'The work of Revive is so important in demonstrating that any ambition for a circular economy is not pie in the sky. This unlikely union of waste and skincare just shows what can be achieved with great imagination, fantastic science and a lot of hard work by Scott, Fergus and the rest of the Revive team.'
Revive Eco is one 20 life science businesses at BioCity, a 26-acre site 13 miles east of Glasgow. During the past 18 months Pioneer has spent around £2m on improvements to buildings, infrastructure, landscaping and services for laboratories. Planning permission is in place for a further 73,000 sq. ft development.
Pioneer Group - which integrates R&D infrastructure, venture investment and support – operates 12 sites across the UK and Ireland.