Brita Teams Up with Nalgene to Reduce Disposable Water Bottle Usage

UPDATE:  April 9, 2008 - see our story on the new NON-Leaching Nalgene Bottles on our companion site Sustainable is Good Products

Water filter maker Brita owned by Oakland-based Clorox has teamed up with Nalgene to launch a new campaign aimed at reducing the use of disposable water bottles.

The campaign, Filter For Good, is obviously mutually beneficial to both the water filter and reusable bottle makers.   It also may be in response to the growing sales of another popular reusable bottle Sigg.

The new campaign highlights the perfect marriage of the two products.  Use your Brita to purify tap water and then fill your Nalgene with the tap water.  Clearly this choice has tremendous environmental benefits when you look at disposable bottled water as the alternative. 

According to the LA Times, Sigg has worked a deal with Aveda placing their water bottles at this year's New York Fashion Week.  Sigg USA also reports a 200% increase in sales over the last three months. 

There certainly has been increased attention to the disposable water bottle issue over the last several months. 

More than anything from my discussions with consumers Nalgene has suffered more from the fact their bottles are mostly made from Lexan #7 plastic than anything else.   Increasing numbers of consumers are turning to reusable bottles made of metal like the Sigg or Klean Kanteens over their plastic bottles.

Nalgene has also launched Refill Not Landfill, a campaign aimed at encouraging more consumers to use their reusable bottles over disposable water bottles.  The company uses #7 Polycarbonate/LEXAN, #2 High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), #4 Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and # 5 Polypropylene (PP) plastics to make the various products in their line. 

Again the resistance I have seen from consumers related to reusable plastic water bottles has more to do with consumers being concerned over plastics as opposed to objecting to the idea of a reusable bottle itself.  Whether the concerns are unfounded is another issue but the feeling is certainly out there.  I believe this is why companies like Sigg and Klean Kanteen are seeing increases in sales.

Comments

[Beth Terry]

If only Brita filters were recyclable. They are recyclable in Europe, but not in the U.S., so every 200 gallons, you are throwing away a heavy chunk of plastic. So much for keeping plastic out of the landfills.

I wrote to Brita a while ago and asked why we cannot recycle the cartridges in the U.S. They responded that the cartridges in the U.S. are made using a different technology. I think this is B.S. I think that the only reason they are recyclable in Europe is that the E.U. requires it.

Here is a history of the issue on my blog:

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/labels/water%20filters.html

And here is a post by another concerned blogger about the same thing:

http://byotalk.blogspot.com/2007/07/water-we-to-do-w-used-filters.html

Thinking of an action like the guys collecting the AOL CDs to collect several thousand used filters (they're pretty heavy at that point) and dump them on Brita's doorstep.

[Willow]

Who really believes this? This "blog" is an advertisement.

Nalgene bottles are not good for YOU. There are chemicals which leach out of the plastic and into the body.

Does this do something bad? I do not need years of medical research to prove thigs to me. It is getting pretty obvious wouldn't you say that petrochemical products are not good for human consumption.

Are you surprised?

We should all be growing gardens on every plot of land we can muster up. We should be eating as many whole foods as possible. Even the lining of the tn cans contains something....look just eat whole foods.

Use stainless-steal bottles; at least the liquids are not sitting in the plastic. Switch to glass and metal containers when you are taking food with you. For heaven's sake we should all be taking food with us. How else can you ensure that you are eating healthy food?

[Tiffany]

I am all for switching to reusable bottles. It saves me money and helps cut back on waste, its a win win! However, the Nalgene bottles are so big and don't fit well where my Evian once was. www.ireducebottles.com has BPA free reusable bottles that are the same size as the bottled water I was purchasing. Thought it'd be helpful to know if anyone else was struggling to fit their new reusable bottle in their cup holder.