Grounds have been available at 28 of 47 Starbucks stores statewide since April 1. The spent coffee bean fragments are free, and available as often as they can be produced and packaged in five-pound bags set out in stores.

The "grounds for your garden" program helps Starbucks reduce its heaviest waste item while encouraging "green waste" recycling. And the benefit for gardens, parks and nurseries can be stunning.

"My tomatoes are just going berserk," said John Wong, general manager of the Ward Village Shops Starbucks who said he began using grounds from the store in his home garden in Manoa before he knew about the company program.

"I read it somewhere that coffee grinds were good," he said. "I figured we had lots of coffee grinds. Why not give it a shot? It actually worked very well."

Patopato, a retired tattoo artist, says he started using coffee grounds on houseplants 15 years ago and swears by it. He urges other gardeners to take advantage of Starbucks free program. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

"That's not an old wives' tale," Patopato said, sitting outside a Starbucks yesterday. "That one works really good. If these guys are giving it away, take it."

Seattle-based Starbucks said it commissioned a study in 1995 from the University of Washington College of Forest Resources to analyze coffee grounds, and reported them to be rich in nitrogen, potassium, calcium, sulfur and magnesium.

H.C. "Skip" Bittenbender, a coffee extension specialist at the University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources, concurred with the study's conclusion that coffee grounds are good for plants.

"I've used coffee in my composting system at home for years and years," he said. "If this encourages more people to compost, that's good news. I wish that more people in Hawai'i had their own composting operations."

Kihei, Maui, resident Kirsten Haas said she has tried using coffee grounds from home on yard plants, but never had enough grounds. Starbucks changed that. "I just picked up another bag for my lawn and for my gardenias and pikake," she said. "They look great. It's really done a good thing."

Sherri Rigg, marketing director for the local partnership operating Starbucks stores in Hawai'i, said the test program will run through April to help promote Earth Day (April 22), as proclaimed by Earth Day Network, and the broader Earth Month.

Starbucks selected their busiest stores to test the program. Among the 28 locations are stores in Manoa, Kapahulu, Kapolei, Koko Marina, Ward Village, 'Ewa Beach, Kane'ohe, Kailua Village Shops, Maui Marketplace, Old Lahaina Center, Pukalani, Prince Kuhio Mall, Parker Ranch and Waikoloa Kings Shops. Depending on demand, the program could be expanded to every store and run year-round, Rigg said.

The Starbucks coffee grounds recycling program on the Mainland was started in 1995 by a group of employees responding to requests of regular customers.

In Hawai'i, some customers such as a wheatgrass grower on Maui and an operator of a school garden project on O'ahu previously have arranged to pick up used coffee grounds from Starbucks stores, but the company had not offered grounds to the public until now.

Wong, the Ward Village Shops Starbucks manager, said the program after one week is gradually catching on, with people taking from three to 10 bags a day from the shop that probably goes through 40 to 50 pounds of coffee beans daily.