Update to the Brita story

Last week, I wrote about some of my efforts to reduce waste during Plastic-Free July. One thing I did was to finally return a whack of Brita filters that we’ve been squirrelling away for years because I was too lazy to find an outlet for them. “One day,” I thought.

As you read, “one day” finally happened, I found a recycling box courtesy of TerraCycle at my local London Drugs store and happily dumped them into the bin. But as I walked away, a nigly voice in my head started to wonder…what happens to those filters? Where will they end up? And, are they actually getting recycled?

What’s the scoop with Brita?

I wanted to know, so I emailed the company to ask. Here is their response:

Once collected, the Brita® products and packaging are separated by composition and shredded, plastics are separated by number, melted down, and turned into pellets that can be molded and extruded to produce new products. The carbon filters are separated for use in polymers.

Stephanie Chamberlain, North American Customer Relationship Director, TerraCycle

This is pretty much exactly what I predicted they’d say. On the one hand, it was encouraging to hear that they actually take the time to separate out all the component parts of a Brita. On the other hand, it still seems vague, somehow. What are these new products?

And this whole ‘carbon filters are separated for use in polymers?’ What’s that about?🤔

As per usual, I have more questions.

Who wants more?

I’m curious to hear from you: what do you think? Are you satisfied with that answer? Or do you have more questions? Let me know!

(Just for fun, I went through some old newsletters in my inbox and dug up this article about TerraCycle getting into some hot water regarding – yup, you guessed it – its product recyclability claims. Hmm…)