The Coffee Problem

The last decade has seen a surge in the demand for coffee in most major cities across the world. Over $60 Billion have been invested in the industry since 2012. There are an estimated 65000 coffee houses in the US alone.

But with so much coffee available to the masses there comes the inevitable issue of waste as a by product. Disposable offee cups hit the headlines as do the single use plastics that are associated with the take away coffee but the actual coffee grounds themselves are perhaps a less obvious issue to the coffee drinking public.

Each coffee produced averages about 14g of coffee. This may seem insignificant until its multiplied by the millions of cups consumed per day. Most of the waste goes to landfill whilst some of it is recycled and the rest goes to drain.

Many believe that if the people fully appreciated the value of coffee ground waste, there would a lot more of it recycled every year. Coffee grounds retain over 30% of their flavour and aroma and therefore could be repurposed. The spent coffee has a high calorific value meaning it can be burned and used as energy.

But there is a more apparent need to prevent coffee waste going to drain that is more obvious to coffee house patrons and that is the fact coffee can actually block your drains. When a barista machine produces a coffee it back washes its pipes to clear them of coffee. This small bit of coffee is sent to drain where it settles. Eventually, over time coffee blocks the pipes. First it will be seen in the immediate pipes connected to the machine and then in the cafes main drainage lines where it mixes with food and fat to produce a cement like substance that will block drains.

Grease Guardian have been supplying Coffee Ground filters for years. These items connect on to the back of the coffee machine and with the use of a fine mesh sock, filter out the coffee on its way to drain. Keeping coffee out of the immediate pipes helps protect the barista machine itself and reduces any related maintenance.

For more on the Coffee Guardian click here