Recycle Brita Filters!

--Press Release--

BRITA - We want your cartridges! Less Limescale, less chlorine, less waste 9 Jan 2008 Millions of households already choose BRITA filtered water for cleaner, clearer great tasting drinks; but did you know that BRITA is the only water filter brand to recycle its cartridges. In line with the growing consumer demand for greener living, BRITA has launched an in store recycling scheme, providing bins to collect its filter cartridges in a range of high street stores. The BRITA branded bins will be located next to the existing water filter fixture in store and can take all BRITA filter cartridges including those for BRITA jugs and the new BRITA water filter taps. It is hoped that by locating the bins beside the current water filter fixture, consumers will be reminded to return their used cartridges when they visit the store to purchase new ones.

###

This is great news! The only hitch? You have to fly to the UK to recycle your filters, and I don't think they will take the US model, even though the press release says they take "all BRITA filter cartridges." The US division was spun off and purchased by Clorox. Clorox is trying to look more green. We are still waiting to see if they are truly turning green or are just "green-washing" because it's trendy to be green and it's becoming great for business. They also recently purchased Burt's Bees for the products natural and sustainable product line. And that's not all, they have joined Nalgene bottles to cosponser a campaign called Filter for Good. Greenies are a new niche market they want to snag. According to Clorox's letter, "One pour-through filter can effectively replace 300 standard bottles of water (16.9oz)" and "...in 2006 Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles." OK, but, if all 50 billion water bottles were replaced by Brita filter systems, that would mean 167 million plastic filter cartridges sent to the landfill! Shame on Clorox! That looks a lot like "green-washing" to me! There is hope! I did a Google search hoping to find a way to recycle my Brita filter. I came up empty on recycling in the US. However, I found that I am not the only one concerned about all those American Brita filters sitting in US landfills...or where ever they end up. I came across a site called TakeBackTheFilter that is running a campaign to convince Clorox to be genuinely GREEN and set up a program so that all us in the USA can recycle our filters just like the Brits in the UK. *Here's what you can do to help - Go to the website. Sign the petition. Spread the word by adding a badge like the one you see on the left of this column to your own blog and then copy the email from the website and send it to friends and family that like filtered water but don't want to pollute with all those bulky plastic filters. THEN the best part: Send back the filter - The nice people at TakeBackTheFilter.org want you to send your used filters to them. They want to make a strong visual statement. Inspired by Jim McKenna's and John Lieberman's successful campaign to urge AOL to quit sending out unsolicited CDs, they're collecting used Brita filters, both pitcher and tap, to deliver to Clorox en masse at some point in the future. You know what I always say...here is your opportunity to make a difference! You love Brita but you don't want all that plastic waste from the filters in your local landfill. Now do something! This is your chance to save the world. As Jack Bauer says, "Do It!" (tick, tick, tick, tick... the clock is running.) Even Jack is concerned about the environment these days. - Joy Buzz it up