Waste-free Coffee

Pod-based coffee is a little bit wasteful; that's old news. K-Cups, Krups, Tassimo, whatever the kind, if every cup of coffee you drink produces a plastic cup for the garbage can, you're probably producing a lot of garbage. The pods we use at our office are slightly better, as you can easily compost the coffee, but each is still wrapped in a plastic wrapper (technically recyclable, but unlikely to be accepted by the City of Calgary's program).

Coffee-shop coffee in a reusable mug is an option if it fits into your lifestyle. For me, it doesn't really work. I don't live or work in an area with coffee shops near by, and I don't want to go out of my way to find one. I am not picky about coffee, so it is easy to make.

All of this was a non-issue for me until a few months ago, when I started drinking coffee regularly. I had underestimated its ability to jump-start my day. It did annoy me that coffee beans normally come in a plastic bag, or a paper one lined with plastic film. Lucky for me, Community Natural Foods is always there for me. They have fair-trade coffee available in bulk.

Now, our household coffee routine looks like this:

• Buy bulk coffee beans at Community Natural Foods.
• Use their coffee grinder to grind it before we bring it home.
• Heat water in our stove-top kettle
• Make coffee in a french press.
• Take coffee to work in a stainless-steel reusable mug.
• Compost coffee grounds.

I keep the tare weight and bin number on the jar (as seen above) because it makes things quick and easy at check-out time. Make sure you get your tare weight before you fill your container, or you will have an awkward situation on your hands.

There you go! Daily coffee with no pods, disposable cups, plastic bags, or paper filters.

What's your coffee routine? Leave a comment!