The heat in a compost pile is produced by bacterial activity, the more active your bacteria are the more heat is generated and there are at least three different species of bacteria active depending on the temperature, those bacteria that work to get the temperature to 100 degrees stop about there and another species takes over and gets the temperature even higher. The heat is an indication of bacterial activity but it has little do do with the bacteria that function in your soil aiding in disease prevention. Many bacteria, if allowed, will develop immunities, or a means of attacking disease pathogens. You find this happening in your garden as well as in the compost pile, indicating that the heat generated during the digestion process is not required for those immunities to develop. Once again, by the time you get the bleached paper what was used to bleach that paper has been washed out and is no longer in the paper.

I'm in southern Wisconsin and have been composting consistently for 5 years. Here's a different take on your situation: I'm assuming you have a garden? If so, consider dumping your coffee grounds, or at least some portion of them, directly into your garden. If you're concerned about putting too much into your garden, just start with a smaller amount to reassure yourself that it'll work ok. All of my coffee grounds go in the garden or my dry leaf pile (when I have one), except when I need an extra dose of nitrogen in the compost pile. Coffee grounds are nice in their versatility - they're fine to sit on the surface of the soil, unlike most other compostables. Best of luck! PS Since I'm also in Wisconsin and you say you're newer to composting, I feel I should mention up front in case you don't know - you *can* compost through winter. Or, at least continue to add to your pile. It'll freeze at some point but will thaw and get back to business in the spring. :)

The optimal C:N ratio is 30:1, but I doubt that many of us are at that each time, because I know I do not check the charts that closely when working on my compost. Coffee grounds are about 20:1 and the filters are not that large a component so they would change very little, as bpgreen has already stated. As long as you have a wide variety of material going into the compost pile chances are fairly good that the C:N ratio will be close to optimal, without your being overly concerned about it. Problems happen when people try to compost with too few inputs, ie. only grass clippings, to few leaves, only kitchen waste, etc.

I like to use aluminum pie plates and paper cups for collecting & drying seed heads, but a friend told me about using small paper bags she collects from happy meals and the like. She places the seed heads in the bags, closes loosely, when the heads are dry she shakes the bags to loosen the seeds from the heads and then pours the seeds out. I haven't tried it yet but will for larger seeds.