I’m of the notion that you should drink tap water first (whenever possible) and use delivery water second because these options have the lowest eco-impact. However, plenty of people want filters, which I’ve never liked because there haven’t been any decent recycling programs in place. That is, until recently. With the pressure on filter companies last year to create a recycling process for filters, one company seems to have listened – Brita.
Your next best choice, in my opinion was an under-the-sink filter, but now I’m rethinking that. If you have to buy one of the major filter brands, Brita is a clear winner. Early this year they teamed up with Preserve to create a recycling program for their filters. I’m already a huge Preserve fan, in fact, we’ve seen their 100% recycled products here before, so them teaming up with Brita rocks.
How this works:
You dry the filter by shaking off excess water and setting it in a dry place for at least three days. Then Brita asks you to wrap the filter in a plastic grocery bag (BAD). I don’t even own any plastic grocery bags, because I only use cloth bags, BUT I suppose you could find one from a friend and recycle it for this. Anyhow, you wrap it in a bag, and then either drop it off at a Preserve Gimme 5 destination or mail filters via ground shipping to: Preserve Gimme 5, 823 NYS Rte 13, Cortland, NY 13045.
Now, this is not a be-all-end-all solution. If you’re buying filters, you’re still dealing with manufacturing energy and resources being used, shipping energy, and packaging. However, if you’re currently trying to choose a filter, Brita is a better mainstream choice, then say, PUR who has no recycling program in place currently. At least, PUR has none that I personally can find – and I looked.
What do you think? Does the fact that Brita introduced this recycling program make them a more attractive company to you? Brita is part of the Clorox family (and I’m not a Clorox fan – I don’t love wanna-be green companies who still produce toxic chemicals). Still, I’m happy that Brita started this, and would likely buy this filter over another. Plus they’re trying; they also recently introduced the Filter for Good program/website.
In even better news, when one company jumps on the bandwagon, more tend to follow suit. I’m betting we see more greener filters and filter recycling programs soon.