Coffee reuse and pre-consumer vs post-consumer waste recycling
By Mark Foreman
After it was reported that used coffee grounds could be converted into a useful product it was suggested in the Times Higher Education (10 Sept 2015) that this could be a reason for the end user of coffee to use fresh rather than instant coffee. As it can be reasoned that production of instant coffee and its reuse at a few sites would incur a smaller transport cost (environmental and financial) than distributed use of coffee grounds followed by collection and reuse at a central site, I conclude that it is possible that when the public is presented with a new recycling technology that some persons expect to handle and use the substance which is to be recycled rather than rely on an unseen recycling process which minimizes waste production in their homes and workplaces. This could be due to a desire by the general public to perform some tangible acts for the common good. Further research may be needed to discover how the public regard pre-consumer waste recycling when it is compared to the recycling of post-consumer waste.
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