A guide to recycling water filters

If you are using water filters for drinking water, there is a good chance you are looking to reduce plastic water bottle usage and are mindful of your carbon footprint.

And so that might leave you wondering how and where to recycle water filters to further reduce your carbon footprint.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, but in short it is possible to recycle water filters, and there are a few ways in which you can go about it.

We’ll cover what you can recycle, what you can’t put into your standard recycling bins, and how to deal with those materials that might require more of a complex recycling process.

What you can recycle

If you have a multi-part water filter, the different parts will have different recycling requirements. We’ll cover the two most common materials found in filters in a bit of detail:

Plastic water filter part recycling

The easiest thing to recycle will likely be the plastic parts - especially if your local council has a plastics bin.

For example, for the most part, filter caps are made from standard plastics so are suitable in your plastic recycling bin.

Similarly, you will find that filter parts are made of either Polypropylene (PP) or High Density Polyethylene (HDPE).

It’s worth checking your local council to see if this is covered by the bins, or if you have to go to the local recycling centre, but generally speaking they will be accepted for recycling.

Carbon water filter part recycling

When it comes to recycling carbon parts, it’s a little more complicated as activated carbon is not typically recyclable through curbside services.

Some specialist facilities may reprocess spent carbon for reuse in industrial applications.

For the most part, carbon should be disposed of as general waste.

As far as where to recycle water filters, everything mentioned above that is recyclable in an area local to you is covered by either your local bin pickup, or at a local recycling centre.

What you can’t recycle (for the most part)

While specialist facilities are getting better, there are certain materials that you may find aren’t recyclable - and generally speaking you cannot recycle complete water filters for this reason.

For example, some filters use fibreglass which is not recyclable and others use ceramic which you cannot get recycled through bin pickup - and not all recycling centres will accept ceramic materials.

Similarly, spent materials like gravel and sand are typically not recyclable due to contamination risks, as lots of pollutants have gone through it.

However, there are a lot of maybes when looking at recyclables from used filters, which brings us to:

Specialist water filter recycling

How to recycle BRITA water filters

Unlike other brands, there are specialist places where you can recycle complete BRITA water filters.

According to Recycle Now branded BRITA filters can be recycled in collection boxes at most Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores, as well as many other retailers.

Start recycling today

Whether you were wondering how to recycle fridge water filters, or you have half-a-dozen cartridges sitting around, hopefully this guide has helped you understand water filter recycling.

There are as many “maybes” as there are “yesses” and “nos“, but through the information in this guide and your local councils rules, this should help you reduce your carbon footprint.

For more useful guidance, be sure to check in on our regularly updated guide section.