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My Brita, Extra Brrr

I like my water cold. I also like it filtered. Cold + filtered = I put my Brita in the fridge. Okay? Okay.

Enter Brittany, my sweet-as-sugar vanilla cupcake college roommate. Brittany likes her water tepid - better for digestion, Chinese medicine, blah, blah, blah. Passive aggressive comes to mind when I reflect on Brittany and the water war we had throughout our sophomore year. I would walk into the kitchen to pour myself a frosty glass of deliciously filtered Hetch Hetchy, and my dreams of refreshment would die as soon as I would see that Brita on the counter, taunting me. I would put the Brita in the fridge, Brittany would pull it out, and so on, without our speaking a word concerning the matter - ever.

They say that comedy = tragedy + time (they is brilliant), and now Brittany and I laugh about our lil' war, but that's probably because Brittany now lives in Santa Rosa with her warm water, and I live in SF with the sweet, icy cold stuff.

-Assistant Editor Hanah...off to call Brittany to tell her I love her, especially now...

Sample letter for Pur filter users:

Dear ___________:

I'm a devoted Pur user. But each time I throw a cartridge in the garbage to replace it with a new one, I'm sad that this plastic will end up in a landfill, where it will last forever in our environment. I use the Pur system in order to avoid the waste of plastic water bottles. I urge you to redesign the filter cartridges so that they can be refilled and/or create a system for us to recycle these plastic filter cartridges instead of sending them to the landfill.

As you may know, the Brita company in Europe has developed a comprehensive take-back recycling program for all of its filter cartridges. This program is not dependent on city recycling systems. The Brita Company itself collects, dismantles, and recycles the filter cartridges. I know that Proctor & Gamble has been making efforts lately to become much more environmentally-friendly (including your new Green Guarantee program), and this would be a great way to forward those efforts.

I look forward to hearing your views on this issue.

Sincerely,
[Your John Hancock]

Send it to:
Procter & Gamble Customer Relations
1 Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Or, fill out Pur's contact form online:  
http://www.purwater.com/contact-us.html

Posted by: ddiprima on 08/25/2008
related tip
No can do. Since using a water filter (instead of plastic water bottles) is eco-forward-thinking, it probably sounds a little, um, backward, but you can't currently recycle your H2O filter cartridges (think Brita or Pur). Ask the manufacturers to pretty please change direction, and take back their filters for recycling.
19 Comments 
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Beth Terry  on August 25, 2008 at 06:37 AM 1
Thanks so much for including a link to the Take Back The Filter campaign to urge Brita to recycle filters in your Daily Bite. And I am so glad that you have started your own campaign to urge Pur to do the same thing. Now, when people email us about Pur, we will point them in your direction. Do you have any other plans besides letter-writing? Beth Terry http://www.takebackthefilter.org
Anne  on August 25, 2008 at 07:03 AM 2
Thanks for making it easy for us to contact these companies by writing a sample letter to Pur and posting the link to the Brita petition. I did both.
Jacquie  on August 25, 2008 at 11:22 AM 3
I've been taking back my used brita filters for recycling for at least 2 years now - they do recycle them over here in the UK, surely they ought to do so everywhere they sell their filters?
Beth Terry  on August 25, 2008 at 01:30 PM 4
Hi Jacquie. The difference is that in North America, Brita is owned by the Clorox Corporation, while in Europe Brita is still owned by the original German company. Two different companies with different philosophies. And also, in Europe, you have laws about such things that we don't have over here.
Sandy  on August 25, 2008 at 02:54 PM 5
Coming from someone who is not very good at putting thought into words, not very good at putting word onto paper,(and even if I was, I wouldn't have the time), I thank you very much for this blog post. It's one of the best I've ever read on this site. I'd also like to see more of these in the future.
Mary Herbsman  on August 25, 2008 at 03:42 PM 6
How about all refrigerator water filters?
Beth Terry  on August 25, 2008 at 03:51 PM 7
Mary, someone needs to organize the campaign to get refrigerator filters recycled. Want to take it on? First step would be to write the company and see what they say. Every campaign starts with one person who wants to make a change!
tammy  on August 25, 2008 at 08:30 PM 8
first of all, a second regular pitcher could have solved the problem, Hanah. filter, pour, refrigerate. solved. second of all, why is filtered water so important? the US has amazingly clean water. what's wrong with tap water? if there is something wrong with the tap, demand it get fixed. test your water. i bet it's fine. i've never been able to put my head around this need for filtered and bottled water. now that i live somewhere where the water is full of not just bacteria but heavy metals, i understand Americans' obsession with filtering their already clean water even less. as far as writing to Proctor & Gamble to think about the environmental impact of its products, well, good luck. I think it would be far wiser to petition and then not buy their products. i'm sure there are instructions online for creating your own charcoal filter, aren't there? or, is that too green? right, this is a light green operation. i keep forgetting.
Bryant  on August 26, 2008 at 04:38 AM 9
Would it be better or worse for us in the USA to ship our used filters to someone in Europe ? Just wondering .....
Beth Terry  on August 26, 2008 at 05:16 AM 10
Bryant, do you use Brita? Please send your used filters to us here in the U.S. The address is on the web site: http://www.takebackthefilter.org/2008/04/send-us-your-used-filters.html Sending to Europe will use a lot of fuel and will do nothing to convince Clorox to create a recycling program for us here in the U.S. Beth
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