Exploring the impact: The life of a paper coffee filter

Every day on earth, about a billion people enjoy a cup of coffee (or three). To make those cups of joy, millions of coffee drinkers use filters, most of which are made of paper.

That’s millions of paper coffee filters tossed in the trash every single day.

And while some of this trash might compost over time, there’s a lot more to the journey of a coffee filter that makes paper filters a huge environmental concern, and drives the CoffeeSock mission to rid the world of paper filters.  

Let’s take a journey through the life cycle of coffee filters, exploring their production, disposal, and the ecological consequences.

The resource-intensive manufacturing of a typical paper filter

Conventional paper filters are typically made from bleached or unbleached paper, involving a resource-intensive manufacturing process that contributes to deforestation and pollution.

Overall, producing and packaging paper coffee filters involves logging, greenhouse gas emissions during manufacturing, water pollution from chemical treatments, and plastic waste from packaging materials. The carbon footprint associated with the manufacturing process contributes to climate change and environmental degradation.

It starts with the trees

Right from the beginning, you need trees. The wood pulp used in paper manufacture comes from logging and milling processes that require vast amounts of water, energy, and machinery. The extraction of trees for paper production contributes to deforestation, habitat destruction, and the loss of biodiversity.

Then comes the chemicals

For most commercially available filters, the wood pulp then undergoes a series of chemical treatments to break down the fibers and remove impurities. These treatments often involve the use of chlorine compounds, which can release toxic chemicals into the environment, polluting waterways and causing harm to aquatic ecosystems.

Most filters also use a bleaching process to make the paper white before cutting. According to a 2012 study published in Environmental Engineering and Management Journal the “discharge from chlorine-bleaching was ‘the most significant environmental issues’ in pulp and paper mills.” While some brands use a technique called oxygen-bleaching, which “requires less manufacturing and is better for the environment,” the process still requires small amounts of chemicals and the use of heavy machinery.

And don’t forget the machines

The processed pulp is then formed into thin sheets, which are further processed and cut into coffee filter shapes. During this stage, energy-intensive machinery is used, consuming electricity and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Then wrap it all in plastic

The final manufacturing steps involve packaging and distribution, which require additional energy and resources, including the use of plastics for individual filter packaging.

We’ve written a ton about the use of plastics, including the microplastics that find their way into drinking water, sea life and, and just about every natural nook and cranny out there.  

What happens when you throw away that single-use paper filter

Paper filters are meant to be tossed out after a single use, by their design. And while it’s true that paper and coffee decompose, that’s not the whole of the story. 

According to the World Economic Forum, more than six million tons of coffee grounds end up in landfills annually. And all that coffee is accompanied by paper filter waste, which can take a long time to break down.  As paper filters decompose, they contribute to the production of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Moreover, the accumulation of coffee filters in landfills increases the overall waste volume, exacerbating the strain on limited landfill space.

What about organic paper and composting?

We’ll be the first to admit that organic, unbleached paper sources and composting are, hands-down, better environmentally than bleached paper tossed in the trash. It’s still paper though and designed to be trashed.

Paper takes time to break down. So, even though organic paper filters are designed to be compostable, the process can be slow, especially in home composting systems. This means that the filters may remain in the compost pile for a considerable period before fully decomposing.

And not all composting facilities accept paper coffee filters in their composting streams. Commercial composting operations often have strict guidelines on what materials they can process, and coffee filters may not be on their approved list. As a result, coffee filters may end up in landfill-bound waste instead of being properly composted.

Choose reusable or skip the filter

You knew where this story was headed, right? With the extreme amount of coffee we drink world wide, coffee waste is a real problem.

The paper waste is bad for the trees, the air, the water, and the soil. And it’s totally optional. You could go filterless and use a French Press or other unfiltered coffee. Or, if you want your coffee filtered to remove some of the inflammatory compounds, then choose a reusable, organic cotton filter.

Organic cotton is renewable, economical, and sustainable. And each cotton filter replaces up to 12 boxes of paper filters! Imagine if every single coffee maker made the swap.