It's great to switch from bottled water to filtered tap water. But have you ever wondered what happens to all the used plastic BRITA filter cartridges at the end of their lives? If you lived in Europe, you could take that filter to a drop-off location where it would be sent back to Brita for recycling. Unfortunately, here in North America, we have no options for recycling our Brita cartridges at all. Each plastic cartridge is either landfilled or incinerated, adding to the toxic waste that is already choking our planet. That's why I and group of other enthusiastic bloggers have created the Take Back The Filter campaign (http://www.takebackthefilter.org) to urge The Clorox Company, which owns Brita in North America, to redesign their filters and provide a way for us to recycle them, as is done in Europe. I urge you to join us! Please Sign the Petition (http://www.gopetition.com/online/18444.html)! Spread the word! If we don't speak up, who will?!

I have read that those fashionable reusable bottles (of which i have one) are unhealthy... that the plastic is toxic.. and therefore have been wary to use mine again... is this Nalgene?

“Riddle: What’s brown, brown, green, and reaches people worldwide to inspire earth-friendly behavior in teenie-weenie steps? Answer: More Hip Than Hippie – An Eco-funny podcast that every week rates organic beers (brown) and chocolates (brown) and provides environmental tips, hip solutions, eco-conscious interviews (green), and even provides small steps (teenie-weenie greenies) for those who aren’t certain about how they can fit environmental behaviors into their lives. Dori and Val provide a weekly interview from Chico, California. The show is available by podcast or from their website: www.morehipthanhippie.com, and reach people all over the world who e-mail in questions, suggestions, and share green tips via a listener forum. Not sure how going green will affect your lifestyle? Do one of the teenie-weenie greenies – a small suggestion do-able for everyone in all lifestyles – and soon you will as green shamrock and the earth will be just as lucky! (They’ve been providing alternatives to plastic for years!) “

@ S: I've read the same thing too about the bottles. The bottles we received from FFG are Nalgene and have the #2HDPE symbol on the bottom of them. According to the http://trusted.md blog: "If it is a #2 HDPE (high density polyethylene), or a #4 LDPE (low density polyethylene), or a #5 PP (polypropylene), your bottle is fine. The type of plastic bottle in which water is usually sold is usually a #1, and is only recommended for one time use. Do not refill it. Better to use a reusable water bottle, and fill it with your own filtered water from home and keep these single-use bottles out of the landfill. Unfortunately, those fabulous colourful hard plastic lexan bottles made with polycarbonate plastics and identified by the #7 recycling symbol, may leach BPA."

My concern is the safety of the water even after it is filtered. Do Brita or other filters remove the chemicals from medicines that may have made it into the water we use?

Hi there, I love your site. I'm am called the recycling Nazi in my household. Keep up the good work with your blogging. I was reviewing your blog and was interested in doing a link exchange with you. As you probably know, the more incoming one way links you have, the better your search engine recognition/optimization becomes. I’m hoping that I can add your link to our company blog at http://www.coolnewsforwomen.blogspot.com And you will be able to add our website http://www.cool-jams.com as a link on your blog. What is my Cool-jams site about?... We design and market an innovative collection of moisture wicking, quick dry sleepwear which help to combat night sweats. Our sleepwear is made from our own moisture wicking smart fabric which seems to sense what you need to stay cool and dry at night. Our Cool News For Women blog discusses health and life issues important to women. Content includes info about nutrition, aging, night sweats, menopause, how to improve your memory, hormone replacement therapy and much more. Are you interested in exchanging links? If so I can add you to my blog roll or add you as a hyperlink in an article. We have over 12,000 active customer who read our Cool News Blog. If you have any questions, you can reach me at this address... anitam@cool-jams.com Best regards, Anita P.S. If we include each other's keywords in our links, and near our links, we'll get extra link relevance at the Search Engines. So please tell me what you would like your link to say, too. I'll set it up right away.

@ M Fell: According to the packaging of the filters we received from Brita, they reduce the following harmful chemicals: lead, asbestos and Total Trihalomethanes. There are a bunch of other checmicals it reduces too, but they are too numerous to list in a blog comment. Also, the packaging states, "Keeps a healthy level of fluoride, a water additive that promotes strong teeth (applies to fluoridated municipal tap water).

Thanks... Cancan Eoy http://article.ezedir.com

So...I like this idea. In fact, we started a similar campaign in '06 when we started The Water Project. http://thewaterproject.org What I'm wondering is, why not double the good? Everyone who decides to take this challenge will be saving money. And it's money they have been used to spending. So...if you re-allocate this expense to charity, you won't notice it and you'll have done a lot of good in the meantime, right? And no, you don't have to give it to our org. :) We'll be happy as long as more people have access to water as a result. So...double the good. Give it up, then give it away.

[...]belive me Time Theif this has nothing to do with an “actual” horse, or climb on Mt. Everest, this is metaphore for exactly what the tags say. YOU have to read deeper to understand http://www.batteryfast.com [...]