Eco-Conscious Tips for Coffee Lovers
We’re living in a time where it’s easy to feel far too insignificant and small to make an impact on the planet, but that feeling couldn’t be further from the truth. Small changes combine and come together to make huge ones. And, even small, regular adjustments to something as small as your daily coffee can make a significant impact over the years and decades.
These days, landfills are a huge problem both in the US and around the world. Slowly, they are destroying habitats, polluting watersheds and rendering huge areas of land useless, and the worst part is that it’s not even necessary. People today love disposable products because what happens after we get rid of them is out of sight and out of mind.
But the planet isn’t a trash can, and the beautiful earth deserves more care and responsibility now more than ever. Here are some of the simple yet hugely effective ways that you can adapt your coffee-drinking habits to be eco-friendlier.
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Avoid Single-Use Cups
Single-serve coffee cups and coffee pods are one of the most detrimental forms of coffee in terms of the environment. While they might be convenient, the impact on the environment that they have is devastating.
In 2015, ten billion K-Cups were produced by Green Mountain Coffee Co alone. That’s so many that if you lined them up next to each other, they would wrap around the world not once, but 10.5 times. If you are thinking of investing in a coffee machine, then bear in mind that single-serve pods are an environmental nightmare.
Plus, they’re quite expensive compared to other options and they don’t even brew the best coffee. If you’re going to use a pod coffee machine, then consider eco-friendly capsules, which are easy to order online, and be sure to recycle them.
Get a Reusable Filter
One of the most compelling reasons to avoid using paper filters when brewing your coffee is that a vast majority of them are bleached with chlorine.
When they end up in landfills, the filters then seep trace amounts of chemicals known as dioxins, which are extremely toxic to human health, into watersheds where they are distributed to growing plants, having a huge impact on the greenery of our planet overall.
If you can’t get a reusable filter, then at the very least make sure that you go for ones with total chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free (PCF) labels. However, a reusable option will eliminate paper water completely and be much better for the environment.
Support Eco-Friendly Brands
One of the most compelling reasons to avoid using paper filters when brewing your coffee is that a vast majority of them are bleached with chlorine.
When they end up in landfills, the filters then seep trace amounts of chemicals known as dioxins, which are extremely toxic to human health, into watersheds where they are distributed to growing plants, having a huge impact on the greenery of our planet overall.
If you can’t get a reusable filter, then at the very least make sure that you go for ones with total chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free (PCF) labels. However, a reusable option will eliminate paper water completely and be much better for the environment.
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