New sustainable perspectives for “coffee wastewater” and other by-products: a critical review

Abstract Coffee sector has a tendency to increase consumption and fall in international coffee prices, as a commodity. There is a need for a strategy to minimize the impact of high costs for producing families and maintaining the competitiveness of the product. In this context, the proper disposal of “Coffee Wastewater” (CWW) can be an alternative, both to mitigate the environmental impact, if it is discarded without treatment, and to generate a source of extra income for coffee growers, when used in the food, pharmaceutical industry, or cosmetic. Proper management of CWW, as well as knowledge of its composition and toxicity, could help to identify solutions at the beginning of the processing chain, however, to date, there are no reports that have discussed CWW. In order to identify effective solutions for this, data covering economic, social and sustainable aspects were verified, focusing on trends in the use of coffee residues, which stimulate the investigation of a new sustainable by-product, which will enable the generation of extra income for coffee growers who have difficulty in bear production costs. The impact can vary between coffee producers and their waste, creating mitigation opportunities.