Brita and Nalgene Partner to Challenge People to Make a Difference

To help reduce bottled water waste, Brita® and Nalgene® Outdoor Products, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, are teaming up to encourage consumers to kick their bottled water habits.

OAKLAND, Calif., August 13, 2007 – FilterForGood is a program on a mission. Through the Web site www.FilterForGood.com, consumers can pledge to switch to a reusable water bottle filled with home-filtered water. At the same time, they can pitch in to help make safe drinking water available worldwide. For each FilterForGood refillable bottle purchased between now and the end of the year, a $4 donation, up to $25,000, will be made to the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people by 2027.

“The FilterForGood pledge gives people the opportunity to take action to protect the earth without having to change their lifestyle substantially,” says Josh Dorfman, author of The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living (May 2007). “Refilling our own personal water bottle with filtered water from the tap requires far less energy and wastes almost no resources relative to bottled water – an easy thing to accomplish with potentially big results.”

Why the FilterForGood pledge
Since 2003, bottled water has grown to become the second largest commercial beverage category by volume. While the benefits of drinking water are undeniable, experts are only now adding up the impact of all those billions of plastic water bottles on the environment, from the energy used in production to the cost of transportation and the handling of plastic waste.
• Of the 50 billion plastic water bottles used by Americans in 2006, 38 billion of them were thrown away, unrecycled. The 1.5 million barrels of oil it takes to produce 50 billion bottles could fuel 100,000 cars for a year. And that does not even include the oil used for transportation.
• Last year, the average American used 167 water bottles, but only recycled 38.
• More than 60 million plastic water bottles are thrown away every day in the United States. This is a growing problem—it takes up to 1,000 years for disposable water bottles to decomposeiii.

Keep Mother Earth and your wallet green
Taking the pledge at FilterForGood.com takes only seconds but can have a lifetime effect on the earth and on consumers’ bank accounts. Filling a Nalgene bottle with filtered Brita water will reduce waste and expense. In fact, the average Brita pitcher filters 240 gallons of water a year for about 19 cents a day . Put in perspective, to get the same amount of water from water bottles would require 1,818 16.9-ounce water bottles a year – at an average cost of a dollar a bottle, that’s $4.98 a day . And, for $10 each, consumers can purchase a 16- or 32-ounce Nalgene bottle, saving hundreds of dollars a year on bottled water while donating to a good cause.

And it tastes great, too
While many people drink bottled water because they think it’s better quality, cleaner and better tasting than tap, almost one out of every four bottled waters sold in the United States (24 percent) are actually purified municipal water. Earlier this year Dr. Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told The New York Times, “There is no reason to believe that bottled water is safer than tap water.”

Take the pledge at FilterForGood.com
Be responsible. Reduce your impact on the planet. Help us in our mission to reduce bottled water waste by making the switch to a reusable water bottle.

About The Brita Products Company
The Brita Products Company, based in Oakland, Calif., is the leading maker of point-of-use water filtration products to improve the quality and taste of tap water. For more information on Brita and its products, contact 1-800-24-BRITA or visit www.brita.com or www.FilterForGood.com.

About NALGENE Outdoor
Nalgene Outdoor Products, part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, is based in Rochester, New York. Founded in 1949 as a manufacturer of the first plastic pipette holder, the company soon expanded its product line to include state-of-the-art polyethylene labware under the Nalgene brand. By the 1970s, outdoor enthusiasts had discovered the taste- and odor-resistant, leakproof and rugged properties of Nalgene’s large selection of plastic containers. In response to this emerging demand, Nalgene Consumer Products was formed. For more information, contact Nalgene Consumer Products or visit our website at www.nalgene-outdoor.com. Nalgene Consumer Products is part of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO), the world leader in serving science.

i Beverage Marketing Corporation
ii Fishman, Charles. "Message in a Bottle." Fast Magazine July 2007: 110.
iii Arnold, Emily, and Janet Larsen. "Bottled Water: Pouring Resources Down the Drain ." Earth Policy Institute. 2 Feb. 2006. 28 June 2007 .
iv Fishman, Charles. "Message in a Bottle." Fast Magazine July 2007: 110.
v Franklin, Pat. "Down the Drain." Waste Management World May-June 2006. 5 July 2007 .
vi This cost assumes the purchase of a $25 pitcher (one filter included), plus 5 replacement filters at $9 each, for a total yearly cost of $70, or $0.19 cents a day.
vii Each filter produces 40 gallons of water and the average Brita owner uses 6 filters in a year, to produce 240 gallons, or 30,720 ounces, of fresh-filtered water. 30,720 ounces is equivalent to the water found in 1,818 16.9-ounce water bottles.
viii Purchasing 1,818 16.9-ounce water bottles at the cost of $1 each costs $1,818. Over the course of a year, that’s $4.98 a day.
ix Fishman, Charles. "Message in a Bottle." Fast Magazine July 2007: 110.