Not all plastics are bad. The challenge is to reduce our consumption of single-use plastics and plastic waste and ensure that it can be recycled when plastic ends up as waste. There is plenty of scope for new products and technological advances. Perhaps not surprisingly, these products are not cheap, but they are better for the environment, and by encouraging their use, we can help to reduce those gyros of plastic in our oceans.
Water-to-Go has developed a three-stage water filtration cartridge housed within a BPA-free non-toxic plastic bottle. The cartridge contains a traditional technology mechanical filter and two nanotechnologies. The activated carbon filter is contained within the membrane and a positive charge reduces the filter pore size and attracts contaminants like a magnet, trapping them inside the filter. The filter membrane is biodegradable and the shrouds are recyclable. The details of the testing that has been conducted on the filters in the USA, UK, China and India can be found online.
- The Water-to-Go filters trap and remove microplastics from any non-saltwater source.
- The filters are recyclable, the casing and end caps can go to plastic recycling, and the grey membrane can be composted.
- Water-to-Go reports, “For users of the 75cl water bottle, 4 replacement filters a year, would provide 800 litres of water which would cost around 4.5p per litre for the filters used.”
- Water-to-Go bottles are now made from bioplastic.
Francesca Brooking has written a traveller’s review of Water-to-Go on her Little Lost Travel website.
The author has not been incentivised in any way to write this post. There are many other plastic reusable water bottles available, all of which reduce the consumption of single-use plastics and reduce plastic waste. Francesca Brooking has a guide to the ten best water filter bottles updated this year.
