[mresseguie]

Stormy,

Isn't the Health Department wonderful? (Notice the invisible 'dripping with sarcasm' 3D graphics in the background.) Give this a try: Ask to speak with the manager of each Starbucks. Ask them if they can set the plastic bags of grounds beside the dumpsters to facilitate your picking them up. Mind you, you'll have to pick them up regularly so the bags don't pile up. Another idea that works well here is to supply the stores with clean 5-gallon buckets (with lids). The employees fill 'em up, cap 'em, and you pick 'em up every evening or every 2 or 3 days. You drop off clean buckets to replace the now full buckets. Take full buckets home, empty them, and rinse 'em out, let dry for next pick up/drop off.

There is a huge operation in Eugene, Oregon, and a very small one here in Corvallis that both do this to very good effect. The Health Dept. is fine with it. I'm either too lazy or too busy (your choice) to use the buckets, so I pick up the plastic bags beside the dumpsters. These are not the silver bags the grounds are shipped in. They are 32 gallon (?) clear garbage bags half-filled with both espresso coffee as well as drip coffee with filters.

Depending on how the economy is and how much competition I have, I collect anywhere from 10 to 15 30 lb to 40 lb bags of grounds each week. I've got approx. 40 bags stockpiled for future and ongoing projects.

Of course, if you have a steady supply of safe grass clippings, you could go without all the grounds.

Michael