Consumers of BRITA, a leading manufacturer of household water filter pitchers, are pressing for more recycling options around the globe. Currently BRITA takes back used filter cartridges from France, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland and recycles them into new filters.
According to the BRITA Worldwide website one in four filter cartridges are being recycled in Germany. Up to the end of 2008 U.S. residents had no options for recycling – the used filters would go straight into landfills, or be shipped to Asia to be burned for energy. Neither option was acceptable to a group of concerned U.S. citizens that started the campaign Take Back the Filter. The campaign collected over 500 filters from around the country with the intent to hand deliver them to BRITA US, owned by Clorox.
Finally at the end of 2008 the solution was met: Preserve would recycle the BRITA filters through a new recycling program.
How to Recycle BRITA Filters in the United States
Effective January 2009 Preserve and Whole Foods have teamed up to collect and recycle BRITA brand filter cartridges. Select Whole Foods natural grocery stores will have a collection box for the old water filters. These will then be shipped to Preserve and be recycled into toothbrushes, cups, and cutting boards and such.
For those consumers without a convenient Whole Foods drop-off location the filters can be dried, wrapped inside a plastic grocery bag, packed in a cardboard box and mailed to Preserve at: Preserve Gimme 5, 823 NYS Rte 13, Cortland, NY USA 13045.
New York City residents and members of the Park Slope Coop can drop off BRITA filters on the coop’s select recycling days for Preserve to recycle.
How to Recycle BRITA Filters in the United Kingdom
Residents of the United Kingdom can expect to find recycling programs for BRITA filters at most stores that retail the cartridges, such as Argos and Tescos chains. To find a BRITA recycling facility consumers can call 0844 742 4800 to reach BRITACare. When cartridges are delivered to UK retailers the used cartridges can be returned in the same way they arrived new.
The filters can also be mailed in a similar fashion as the U.S. protocols above and be sent to: Brita Recycling, FREEPOST, NAT 17876, Bicester OX26 4BR.
BRITA Recycling in Other Countries
For information on recycling programs in other countries BRITA can be contacted at their headquarters at: BRITA GmbH, Heinrich-Hertz-Straße 4, D-65232 Taunusstein, Germany.
For countries that have not yet established recycling programs for the BRITA filter cartridges perhaps a similar campaign as the Take Back the Filter effort will yield positive results for the environment.
References:
- Take Back The Filter, accessed online 2008, 2009
- BRITA Worldwide, accessed online 2008, 2009
- Brita and Preserve Announce Filter Recycling Program, November 18, 2008 press release, accessed online 2009
- Preserve Recycle Brita Filters, accessed online 2009
Amy Kreydin - Amy Kreydin, NBCRT, CCAP, BD is a Board Certified Reflexologist and Clinical Aromatherapist.
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