There are filters that are merely coarse screens, like mesh socks, and then there are finer ones, usually cannister-based. The ones that filter microplastics are so fine that the very large element will need to be cleaned every 2-3 loads, and there is a lot of material, even for us who prefer natural fiber clothes and linens.
Nota Bene: This type of filter works best when the element has already accumulated fibers. i.e., they actually improve filtration. I clean the element only after my machine throws a code that the discharge line has back pressure or the clothes finish too damp.
Re filtering: Soooo, you then empty the filter. If you wash it you are still adding microparticles to the water supply, albeit fewer. If you throw away the filter’s contents, it either seeps through a landfill or adds to the pollutants in incinerator smoke, no?
Yeah, the filtrate is a tar baby to some unknown extent. I don’t wash the filter, it gets stripped of the fibers trapped on its outside, sort of a damp version of the lint in a dryer’s screen. Then it goes into a bag that I turn in at my county’s hazardous waste dropoff. I have not researched where it goes from there.
But it’s not going into my septic system or the groundwater that flows directly into my local marine estuary.
My understanding is that incineration can greatly reduce MP, but that it’s only as good as the combustion. Even then, there remains some MP in the fly ash and bottom ash. But surviving MP doesn’t necessarily equate to no benefit. If the ash is captured and sequestered, it’s better than not burning, yes?
What are your thoughts on a black plastic pour over coffee maker with a paper filter inside? Some coffee would make a little contact with the black plastic as it pours through the bottom of the filter.
I have a ceramic pour over as well, but it’s quite heavy and it’s breakable, so the plastic one gets more use.
Mine? Unless the maker certifies that their material is free of the retardants, I wouldn’t use it. Autodrip makers’ method requires the water boil, and by the time it makes it into the filter holder, it’s just off the boil.
My nonstick pans last for years. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever ditched one because it failed. OTOH I learned how to cook with non-nonstick pans so I only use nonstick for certain things. And I’m not about to pitch them until they fail. Which will be long after my sell-by date.
This is to some extent a “young person’s problem”. I’m 74 and have been using my black plastic pour-over coffee maker for twenty years. At this point, I’m not worrying about long-term problems. (As Claude Pepper said, “I’m so old, I don’t even buy green bananas.”)
I’m far from a young person myself, and I’m glad I don’t have any children, who are left to deal with a world we’ve managed to fuck up pretty badly for them.
It’s a strange position to be in when one considers oneself lucky for not being around for the worst.
Of course you still need a holder/basket, but there are plenty of glass pourovers around. Some autodrips are available with glass reservoirs, too.
Edited to add: Here’s a mostly-stainless and inexpensive drip machine: +https://www.webstaurantstore.com/galaxy-pourover-commercial-coffee-maker-with-2-warmers-and-toggle-controls-120v/177GCM2B.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=Cj0KCQiAuou6BhDhARIsAIfgrn4-E-eTFPFA2VyxmnlEtLF69U1g4cWvWte5SN4Qo5iXT_-30GDejNQaAgvVEALw_wcB
Here are the 3 non- black plastic lightweight pour over options I found in Toronto. I didn’t take photos of the ceramic ones.
The one I bought at the Good Egg. $13.50.
