SUMMARY It is clear that we must look for alternative ways to combat the effects of hydric erosion, which is one of the factors of soil degradation, and, in this way, increase the water retention capacity and improve fertility. This is why soil conservation studies have been conducted. These studies assess the possibility of using agricultural waste, experimenting with it in order to determine its capacity to protect and improve soil. In this study the effectiveness of coffee bean husks in controlling erosion and improving the physical properties of soil was assessed. A 3x5x2 factorial experimental design with 2 reruns and a total of 60 treatments was elaborated. The three study factors were soil, waste position and state of the land. Thus, five different kinds of soil were studied: one sandy loam soil, one clay loam soil and three clay-silt loam soils, comparing in all of them the results obtained with surface and “buried” waste. In both cases the soil coverage percentage varied between 80% and 85%. In the case of the state of the land, the assessments were carried out on soils with both surface crusting and without surface crusting. In order to perform this experiment, which lasted one year, rain simulation trays were prepared with different types of soil and vegetal waste. The physical and physical-chemical properties were taken into consideration for the characterization of the soil to be studied. In the first stage (treatments with no crusting), the soil was moistened two days before the start of the experiment and the trays were exposed to simulated rain at 122 mm/h rainfall intensity for 21 minutes divided into 7 intervals of three minutes each. These conditions permitted the study of the hydric balance and soil loss through the determination of runoff, the amount of dragged waste, the start of ponding, the start of runoff and the infiltration rate. After that, during desiccation time, moisture and penetration resistance were continuously measured. At the end of the six months the physical properties of the soil were determined (aggregates stability, apparent soil density, hydraulic conductivity and soil porosity). Six months later, after the surface crust had formed in all the trays, the second stage of the experiment was initiated. The methodology was the same as in the first stage: premoistening, rain simulation, study of hydric balance and of soil loss and measurement of the physical properties. The analysis of the results showed the effectiveness of coffee bean husks in controlling erosion and runoff, mainly in treatments with “buried” waste where runoff was lower in sandy loam soil. Besides, this study showed that the presence of crusting reduces the influence of coffee bean husks. The vegetal waste was very effective since it improved the physical properties of the soil, especially in “buried” treatments and treatments without a crust. The study showed the effectiveness of coffee bean husks in retaining soil moisture and in reducing penetration resistance. Moreover, it showed the capacity of the “buried” method as the most recommendable for the positioning of the vegetal waste in the soil.