If you are one of the thousands of people hooked on Brita filters, there is good news for you! You can recycle them! Some western European countries have been recycling the filters since the 1990s. Yes, that would be since last century. Over 15 years later, in January 2009 our progressive country was able to join in the fun as well.

To recycle your Brita filter: dry it, wrap it in one of those plastic bags that has been sitting in your pantry and drop it in the “Preserve Gimme 5” bin at your local Whole Foods Market. Bonus: your plastic bag gets to be recycled as well. If you can’t get to Whole Foods, then mail your filter to Preserve.

And if you think that neither of these methods is convenient for you, then be proactive and call your sanitation department and demand that they begin to recycle the filters. And then get your friends to do the same.

Whatever you do, make sure you don’t though out the filter in your trash can, because it will sit in the landfill, while releasing some potentially harmful chemicals and causing you bad luck.