Green Daily

I used to use a french-press which is another great way to make your morning beverage paper-free. When I switched to a drip coffee maker (FP broke, had an old drip machine in the cupboard) I started using paper filters. I'm going to try these reusable filters out!

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I owned one of these for years but started to use it only when I ran out of the unbleached paper kind. I found the mesh basket to be very hard to get really clean and it always seemed a bit oily and clogged, even with non-bio dish soap. I've had great success using white vinegar to clean my coffee maker but it didn't do much for the reusable filter.

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A toothbrush makes cleaning these perma-filters much easier

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I really like the idea of the reusable filter, and I've tried mine for a month or so a couple of times. I found that it took a lot of water to clean it each time, and a lot of the grounds clung tightly to the basket. More grounds went down the drain than into the compost bin.

Like so many things, I find it difficult to really assess the relative environmental impact of manufactured goods:

For paper filters, there is water used for paper manufacture; fossil fuels used for wood harvest, manufacturing and transportation; byproducts of paper manufacturing; impact to the woodlot and paper mill areas; likely domestic transportation; disposal of the used filters.

For the metal filter, there is the mining and refining of oil and its byproducts (to make the plastic with), mining and manufacture of the metal screen, plating and its byproducts, the environmental impact of the areas mined and the manufacturing facility, intercontinental transportation, disposal of water and soap to clean for each use.

(Clearly this isn't an exhaustive analysis, but it's the thought process I go through when weighing options like this.)

For me, it's tough to say which is the better choice. For the last couple years, I've gone with unbleached paper filters that I compost with the grounds. My rationale: Paper comes from a renewable source, I estimate that it takes less water to make a filter than to clean the metal one, and the paper filter ultimately gets cycled into the garden. Right, wrong? I don't know. Obviously it's the choice I'm more comfortable with.

My best guess: Either way, we're trading one environmental impact for another.

Your thoughts?

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