Kay wrote:
In article , Anthony
Ward
writes
The canteen at my workplace wants to improve their recycling
statistics and so is bagging up the used coffee grounds from the
machine and offering this free to customers for their garden
compost
bins.
A colleague has said this is not a good idea because the grounds
are
too acidic. I would appreciate knowing the thoughts of experienced
gardeners on this please. I am not particularly wanting to grow
acid-loving plants.

You are unlikely to be creating a compost heap purely of coffee
grounds.

But even if you were -
The best compost I ever made used to consist, daily, of a couple of
handfuls of potato and veg peelings, the tea leaves from about 6
pots
of lapsang suchong tea and a bucket of urine.

I have also heard that one should not add citrus peel to the
compost
bin for the same reason. Does the group agree?

No

Just chuck in everything of organic origin, from tea-leaves to dead
rats. People talk rubbish about this. The desperately thin layer of
this planet which can support life as we know it consists mostly of
the rotted remains of life as we know it: that's how it works. Mix it
up a bit of course: a thick layer of grass cuttings or newspapers
will slow the process down, though it won't stop it in the end. The
compost heap is our promise of immortality! When this planet has
finished with our bits, a new star will gobble them up and make
something bright and new.

--
Mike.