How To Dispose Brita Water Filters Cartridges

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Eco-friendly instructions to become rid of your old Brita filters

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Brita filters are an splendid tool when it comes to removing contaminants from your drinking water, but they do need to be replaced every 2-3 months. Due to the blazon of plastic that well-nigh filters are made out of, and the fact that contaminants in the filter can ruin other recyclables they come in contact with, recycling a water filter is hard. Luckily, Brita runs a recycling program through TerraCycle, a recycling company that specializes in recycling complex plastics that are hard to process. Ship your former filter to TerraCycle for gratuitous at your local UPS. If this isn't a convenient option for you lot, await online to find a recycling plant nearly you and contact them to see if you tin can drop your filter off.

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Allow your Brita filter to dry out for three days. Earlier you tin ship or drop off you water filter, you have to clean it and let it dry. To do this, simply leave the filter out in a well-ventilated area for iii days to requite it time to air dry.^[1]
- Your filter is a closed system, then you can't reach into it and dry out information technology past hand. Even if you lot wanted to break the filter to hand dry it, at that place are a ton of contaminants within the filter that you shouldn't touch on.
Tip: If you really want to ensure that your filter is dry, allow is sit out for five-6 days.
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Wipe away any surface clay or grime with a clean, dry fabric. Use a clean cloth to wipe your filter down. Scrub away any surface dirt or grime to avoid contaminating whatsoever of the other recyclables at the plant. Avoid using a damp cloth to ensure that your filter stays dry.^[2]

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Wrap the water filter up in a plastic grocery bag. Grab a standard plastic grocery purse from under your sink or agree on to a spare pocketbook the next time you lot go shopping. Take your water filter and place it in the plastic bag. Roll the backlog plastic around the filter and tie the handles together to secure information technology.^[three]
- If you're recycling multiple filters, wrap them in separate plastic bags. That fashion, if one of the filters cracks and the contaminants spill out, you'll still be able to recycle the other filters.

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Sign upwards for the Brita recycling programme if you lot want costless rewards. Go online to Brita's website and sign up for an account by clicking the button at the top right of the screen. Enter your personal information and enroll in the Brita recycling programme. Every time that TerraCycle receives a package from you, they'll let Brita know and yous'll be awarded redeemable points. These points tin be used to earn discounts on future Brita products.^[4]
- You can visit Brita's website and sign up for an account at https://www.brita.com/recycling-filters/.
- TerraCycle is the only visitor that Brita has paired with to recycle their filters. This means that you won't earn whatsoever points if you driblet the filter off at a standard recycling plant.
- This is entirely optional. You tin notwithstanding ship your filters to TerraCycle if you lot aren't enrolled in the program.
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Packet your filter in a modest box. Get a small cardboard box or pick up a aircraft box from your local post role or shipping store. Identify your bagged filter in the box. You tin send multiple filters in one box if y'all'd like. If you practise, line your filters up in the base of the box so that they're all facing the aforementioned direction.^[five]
- You lot can also take the plastic bag to a USPS, UPS, or FedEx if you lot alive in the United States and accept them package information technology for you. If you practice this, bring your aircraft characterization with you to the store. UPS is the merely shipping store that will ship your filter for free.
Tip: If you're shipping multiple filters, counterbalance your package at home to ensure that it weighs less than 5 pounds (2.iii kg). The shipping will exist free at UPS if it's under 5 pounds (ii.3 kg), but you'll have to pay a small fee if it'due south too heavy.
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Seal the paper-thin box closed with packing tape. Fold the smaller flaps of your box over into the box before folding the 2 bigger flaps on tiptop. Hold them downwards while yous seal the package with a long strip of packing record. Run the tape over the seam in the heart and fold it over the sides of the box before pressing it downwards.^[6]
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Print your shipping characterization online from TerraCycle. Navigate to TerraCycle's website and register for an business relationship. Enter your personal information and create a countersign to sign up. Afterward y'all've signed into your account, select the "Print Characterization" selection from your home menu. TerraCycle volition automatically generate a shipping characterization for you that you can print from habitation.^[7]
- Visit TerraCycle online at https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/business relationship/sign_in.
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Attach the label to the tiptop of the paper-thin box. Put your characterization on the top of your box. Tear 4 strips of packing tape off of the coil, placing the pieces along the edges of the label to attach information technology to the box.^[8]
- Don't obscure the writing on the label with your record. If the label can't be read, the shipping visitor you're using will either refuse to take it or lose it in transit.
- The characterization must exist on the peak of the box in a highly visible location. Don't tape it to the corner of the box or fold it over a side.
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Driblet your parcel off at a UPS to ship it to TerraCycle. Accept your package to a UPS shop near you and hand the package over to the clerk behind the desk. UPS will send the filter to TerraCycle to accept information technology recycled.^[ix]
- You can find a UPS shop nigh you by using their store locator tool at https://www.theupsstore.com/tools/notice-a-shop.
- You tin accept your package to another shipping visitor if you'd like, simply you'll take to pay a pocket-size fee to have it shipped.

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Identify the type of plastic your filter is made of past inspecting it. Take your water filter and audit the surface to look for a number enclosed by three arrows arranged in a triangle. About Brita filters are made out of #5 plastic, although different models may utilize a unlike type of plastic. You need to know what kind of plastic your filter is made out of in social club to find a found that tin can recycle your type of plastic.^[10]

Tip: If you still have the packaging for your filter, you can search your detail model online to find information about the blazon of plastic that was used to produce it.
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Look online to find a recycling institute near y'all. Get online and pull up a search engine. Blazon in your city's name followed by the phrase "recycling found" to pull up a map of the recycling plants nearly you. If your phone or computer's GPS location is turned on, you can also type "recycling establish near me" to pull upward a list of the closest recycling plants.^[xi]
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Telephone call recycling plants to see if they have your type of water filter. Starting with the establish closest to you, use the phone numbers listed online to telephone call the recycling plants in your surrounding expanse. When someone answers the phone, enquire them if they recycle whatsoever type of plastic your filter is fabricated out of by providing them with the number. If they do, ask them if they accept water filters.^[12]
- Fifty-fifty if a institute accepts your blazon of plastic, they may not have the power to process water filters since filters absorb contaminants. The contrary may also be true. A found may process #1 or #iii h2o filters, for example, but they may not exist able to take your #v plastic.
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Drop the h2o filter off at the found to recycle it. In one case yous observe a recycling plant that accepts your type of plastic and besides recycles water filters, drop information technology off at the plant. Most recycling plants don't charge the public to driblet off material, so you shouldn't need to worry about paying. Simply pass the filter off to the clerk behind the desk to have it recycled.^[thirteen]

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If you ship your filter off with your standard recycling, the contaminants in your filter will brand the other plastics or papers dangerous to recycle.
You used to be able to drop Brita filters off at Whole Foods in their "Gimme 5" recycling bins. They no longer allow these filters and you'll be ruining the entire batch of recyclables.