As you liberate yourself from costly bottled water, trying instead to filter tap water if and as needed, you’ve probably begun to wonder what  to do with all those used plastic-and-carbon filter cartridges from your carafe. It seems a bit counterintuitive to switch from one plastic-wrapped water product to another, an irony not lost on Take Back the Filter’s founder Beth Terry. She says, “We feel that large companies like Clorox [the maker of Brita filters] that are attempting to go green, can lead the way for others.” She’s collected over 15,000 online signatures on a petition asking Clorox to create an easy way for consumers to recycle their water filters. Her organization was recently featured in the New York Times article, “Pressure is on to recycle water filters.” Take Back the Filter doesn’t yet focus on Pur, the other mainstay in the carafe filter market, but you can go to Pur’s website and take action by urging them to take back filters for recycling.

 

We featured the new Zero water filter pitchers in our last water filter blog, and they bear another mention here for their forward-thinking recycling policy. Consumers can send used cartridges back to the company for recycling, making this new gadget number one on our holiday wish list. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay for the shipping costs yourself, and the filter must be wrapped in not one, but two plastic bags (despite your best efforts, you probably have a few of those on hand). Remember, at least that filter is getting recycled, which is the important thing. Mark the box “Attn: Recycling,” and send it to Zero Technologies, LLC, 4510 Adams Circle Unit F, Bensalem, PA 19020.

 

No matter what the season, be a Grinch about bottled water. Water filter cartridges, even if they aren’t recycled, create significantly less waste than water bottles in landfills, according to Joe E. Heimlich, a professor of natural resources and environmental science at Ohio State University. A regular carbon water filter, found in Brita and Pur pitchers, only needs to be changed once every three months, unlike water bottles, which usually get thrown out the day they are used. According to the Container Recycling Institute, over 100 billion plastic water bottles have already been thrown away and not recycled this year, or to put it another way, 40 million bottles a day.

 

 

Copyright Environ Press 2008