Woman fined for pouring coffee down drain: Here's why you shouldn't do it
Coffee in small amounts wouldn't generally be a problem. The issue is that we drink so much of it, experts say.
Coffee lovers worldwide recently raised their eyebrows when a city council fined a woman £150 for pouring coffee down a storm drain in London, UK.
The woman, Burcu Yesilyurt, was fined by enforcement officers under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which states a person cannot deposit or dispose of waste in a way likely to pollute land or water, including pouring liquids into street drains, according to the BBC.
That fine has since been cancelled by Richmond council in London.
Is it OK to pour coffee down a drain? And how are you supposed to dispose of leftover coffee?
Ms. Yesilyurt said she thought she was doing the right thing by pouring her coffee down the storm drain before getting on a bus, where the bumps and turns could cause it to spill.
You may have done something similar yourself. After all, Canadians love coffee. We drink an average of 2.8 cups per day and, in 2023, we spent about $35 a month on it.
Globally, people consume about 2.25 billion cups of coffee per day .
Experts recommend disposing of coffee by adding it to compost, or diluting it to create a plant tonic. You can also add it to your garden, but if you’re doing this daily, it could cause a buildup that could damage your plants.
But whatever you do, many experts (and plumbers) seem to agree: Don’t pour your leftover coffee down the drain in large, consistent amounts. And that’s especially true for city drains, like the storm drain in Ms. Yesilyurt’s case. The only thing that should go down a storm drain is rainwater, because these systems lead directly into rivers and creeks without being processed.
What about sinks? Isn’t water treated before it is released into rivers and oceans?
In Canada, most — about 97 per cent — of our wastewater is cleaned before it is re-released into our waterways.
A 2021 study found that globally, about 48 per cent of wastewater is treated before it is re-released into water systems.
Caffiene is partially biodegradable. The problem is that we drink so much of it. A high concentration of coffee going into drains each day, worldwide, creates more opportunities for it to pollute our waterways.
“The more caffeine that goes into ... pipes, the more that could evade ... treatment and reach rivers,” writes writes Kevin Collins, a senior lecturer of Environment & Systems at The Open University.
In his recent article appearing in The Conversation UK Collins writes that millions of dregs flushed daily from leftover coffee can pollute water, further adding to caffeine levels already present due to household sewage.
“Cups of coffee contain hundreds of chemical compounds. As well as caffeine (assuming you are not drinking decaf), many will include milk and sugar while some also contain cocoa, spices, and other ingredients,” Collins writes.
“Of these, caffeine has the most impact, environmentally speaking. It does not break down quickly or easily, and is considered an emerging contaminant ... But even back in 2003, caffeine was found to be polluting Swiss lakes and rivers.”
Collins says coffee nutrients can promote algae growth, which can block out sunlight that other organisms need to survive. And decaf coffee isn’t much better, he says, because all coffee lowers water’s pH.
High levels of caffeine in a waterway can affect aquatic life by disrupting hormonal balance, sleeping patterns, and reproduction.
Then there’s the home maintenance aspect. While this has more to do with coffee grounds, experts say the fats in milk can leave behind a greasy film in pipes which could build up over time and create blockages.
Plumbers say coffee grounds tend to clump together, which can also build up and create clogs. To prevent this, put coffee grounds in your compost.
If you have a little coffee left over in your cup, consider adding it to an ice cube tray and freezing it. You can use the cubes later to add extra flavour to your next iced coffee.
In Ms.Yesilyurt’s case, she asked the enforcement officers what she should have done with the remaining coffee if she wasn’t supposed to pour it down the drain, and was told she should have disposed of it in a garbage bin.
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