Compostable all-natural water filters

Compostable all-natural water filters(kickstarter.com)

46 points by zachallia 13 years ago | 47 comments

mhp 13 years ago |

I think the design is great, and from a business perspective I like their desire to do it on a subscription basis (like Proactiv for example). As a consumer, that annoys me a bit, but I guess they'll see how it turns out.

HOWEVER, the United States has pretty awesome water coming right out of the tap. And charcoal based filters are mostly taste filters. They aren't going to remove most pollutants (you'd need a reverse osmosis filter for that). It's an aside to this product discussion, but I really don't know how we've been duped into buying products that support a whole industry of bottled water and water purification. I say that as I look at my dumb brita filter on the counter...

chm 13 years ago |

Chemist here:

Drinking bottled water is like paying taxes twice. Drink tap water unless the taste is prohibitive.

This company seems just another gimmick. The only person who might have a clue of the chemistry going on is the "world expert" David Beeman, who chooses to entertain us with marketing gibberish rather than facts. The vocabulary is chosen to confound the chemistry-illiterate viewer and appeal to chemophobia.

Organic, BPA, PLA, vegan, plastic, "Catalytic activated coconut shell carbon", etc. I would like to have a chat with this "world expert".

A big chunk of the world would give everything they have for access to our tap water. Gimme a break with your pathetic fear mongering.

zachallia 13 years ago | |

Email him! He developed the filtration for many major coffee chains (i.e. Starbucks) and has worked in the industry forever. I promise you he isn't a gimmick, and a regular consumer wouldn't understand the same things you would understand.

chm 13 years ago | | |

I might email him once I'm done studying.

My point is that precisely because he understands what he's doing, he has the duty to explain it to others, or at least not confound them. From my perspective, the sales pitch is relying on chemophobia to hook viewers.

No wonder people think of Kickstarter as a store. If the company really is serious, they should offer technical details concerning their product, the kind of details an investor wants. I'm willing to bet most people who funded the company so far have done so with blind trust in the designers/developers of the product.

I hope I'd lose my bet!

zachallia 13 years ago | |

Also, people like to store water in the fridge, so it doesn't seem totally ridiculous to clean it and make it taste better before storing it.

saidajigumi 13 years ago |

This and other products roughly similar to Brita filters all seem a bit ridiculous and wasteful. At least this one is glass and so free of plasticizers[1]. A simple drip-through filter isn't going to do that much to improve most U.S. water supplies.

Instead, just get a multi-stage reverse osmosis filter unit. That'll take out virtually everything potentially nasty and/or bad tasting: chlorine, flouride, metal salts used to control algae, misc. minerals and so forth. Coffee and tea brewers, you really owe this to yourselves. The maintenance amounts to replacing a few filters in an under-sink unit every one to three years depending on your local water supply. No remembering to refill a pitcher, just a little extra spigot on your sink.

[1] BPA-free isn't good enough. Replacing one plasticizer with another that also has high estrogenic activity is pointless.

chm 13 years ago | |

Do you know what a plasticizer does? When it is used? In the preparation of what polymers? This is not an assault, just a hint.

Read up on BPA, then go to your local dept. store's bottle section. Most of the bottles will be made of polymers that do not even involve BPA or BPs, but still advertise as BPA-free. It's only marketing.

philwelch 13 years ago | |

You can use a Brita pitcher in places where you're not allowed to install things under the sink, like when you're renting. But most importantly, a Brita pitcher gives you a good excuse to keep your drinking water in the fridge, so you never have to contend with having to drink warm or lukewarm water again.

chockablock 13 years ago | |

Thanks--you inspired me to check these out. I'm pleasantly surprised to find that undersink units go for ~$200.

skewp 13 years ago | |

The U.S. has some of the cleanest drinking water in the world.

CJefferson 13 years ago |

Nice idea, but I dislike claims like:

    Soma's proprietary formula produces the best tasting water.
    You'll notice a crisp, pure taste you won't find anywhere else.

Really? While I appreciate water filtering, I want some real evidence that this water filter is considerably better than any other water filter on the market.

ekianjo 13 years ago | |

Good idea. Like testing water from two indistinguishable cups and A/B and B/A fashion. That kind of data is easy to produce and can be used as a sales pitch.

revelation 13 years ago |

What exactly is filtered by this? In Germany, water from the tap is commonly found to be cleaner than the stuff you can buy in plastic bottles.

The only application that comes to mind would be regulating water hardness.

LaGrange 13 years ago | |

In fact I tried San Francisco water, and it was completely fine. And there's also the obvious question about the carbon footprint of bringing coconut shells to US for manufacturing.

On the other hand, in several places in Poland a water filter is, actually, fairly useful.

chockablock 13 years ago | | |

I use a carbon block filter (Clear2o) for SF tap water, and appreciate the lack of chlorine taste. (Or more properly, chloramine: http://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=357 )

lucian1900 13 years ago | |

In (some parts of?) London, water is particularly hard. A filter makes it not taste of dust and prevents stupid dust spots on container. Some other places have chlorine-tasting water.

For anything else? A filter is pretty much useless.

danudey 13 years ago | |

A significant amount of bottled water is, in fact, tapwater. There are a lot of companies that are bottling your own tapwater and selling it to you for $4/L.

nostromo 13 years ago |

I wish they'd show someone using it.

How big is it? Seems like it's about the size of a gallon jug. Maybe bigger. The hourglass shape, unlike a traditional filter, wastes a lot of fridge space.

Do I have to remove the filter to pour? That would be a deal-breaker for me. If not, is it spout directional, or can I pour at any angle?

Pouring from of a top-heavy hourglass could be awkward. Especially if it's weighted down with a filter.

zachallia 13 years ago | |

It's smaller than in the video. We had to use an early prototype there to have the video ready in time. It's designed to fit nicely even in small hands. You do not have to remove the filter to pour, there is a spout that is hidden but runs up the side. I'll make sure we get some pictures of the pitcher from angles that you can see the spout / lid.

001sky 13 years ago | | |

Main Q is Can it fit on a d00r-shelf like a 1/2 gal milk? That's probably the once critical size constraint, IMHO. Without it, you are limited where you can put it (as well as taking up extra space). This is something I personally check for every pitcher/flask i get.

sparebytes 13 years ago | | |

I can't help but wonder why ya'll didn't show pouring from it.

mixmastamyk 13 years ago |

Have seen a few comments about US water quality. It may be good in general, but the water here in Los Angeles is horrible (though sterile?). I grew up in Ventura County and never thought twice about tap water (and laughed at others too) until I moved here.

Part of it is LA's fault, they use so much chlorine it smells like you're drinking from a jacuzzi. Even after letting it sit for a day or two for the chlorine/ozone to dissipate, it still tastes bad in a similar way. I'm not sure what the other minerals/contaminants are. Finally, our current building is old and we get red rusty water first thing in the morning once a week or so.

So yes, we filter our water before drinking, pretentious or not. We have a PUR 3-stage attached to the sink, and it costs a bit more than I'd like, but honestly ~10 bucks a month is nothing compared to the night/day improvement we get from it. I hope the claims about removing heavy metals are true for my daughter's sake.

dljsjr 13 years ago | |

Yeah. A lot of people are up in arms about the fact that this might only mask taste, since it's nothing more than carbon-based filtration.

Personally, I live in Escambia County, Florida... home of the worst water in the country, ranked. I don't know a single person that lives here who doesn't own a Brita filter because our water is nearly unpalatable. You will actually get strange looks if a local sees you drinking the tap water. And yes, I realize that the fact it is palatable at all puts us in a much better position than a great deal of the world. But why is it a crime for me to want my water to not taste like utter shit?

I can understand the general dismay at the strength of the claims being made. But don't dump all over the product because it's "just" a fancy Brita filter. It looks great, it makes the water taste better, and compostable isn't a terrible sell either.

ekianjo 13 years ago | |

Have you considered buying 20L water tanks from fresh sources as well? I guess that is probably the most expensive option but it might be the "safest" since they probably test the water thoroughly before shipping it.

mixmastamyk 13 years ago | | |

I did schlep the 5/2.5 gallons around for a year or two, objecting to the upfront cost of the filter, but once I gave in I quickly regretted taking so long.

Fresh sources sounds nice, but I'm lazy at heart. The alternative, having it delivered while living on a water planet (a stones throw from the Pacific) just seems too environmentally hostile.

morsch 13 years ago |

How big is it? Seems like pretty essential information, but I can't see it on the page. The entire top half seems to be made of glass, so it's pretty big relative to the amount of water it carries.

I'm not sure if having a filter delivered to you every two months is all that sustainable. And the people I know who filter their water wouldn't want any kind of plastic in it's path; but the people who filter water here are pretty fanatic about that. I guess the main attraction in the US is to get rid of the chlorine?

Oh and $33 per delivery also seems like a lot? Are filters that expensive? (The page says the 3 filters in the first real pledge are $100+ in value.)

(Edit: it's $15, see below, much more reasonable, sorry about that.)

zachallia 13 years ago | |

This also includes the value of the pitcher! The filters come to you for $15 every two months

morsch 13 years ago | | |

D'oh, yeah, sorry, at second glance it's fairly obvious.

zachallia 13 years ago | |

Also it's big enough to hold five eight-ounce glasses.

DareOlonoh 13 years ago |

Seems like a great product and business model. I ditched my Brita filter for bottled water a couple years ago because of the black dots. It was embarrassing to pour water for people when there were black dots floating in it. Might have to switch back to a filter now.

JshWright 13 years ago | |

Are you in the U.S.? On municipal water? What's wrong with your tap water?

philwelch 13 years ago | |

I've used Brita filters for years and I've never experienced black dots. Did you change the filter too often? Not often enough?

theevocater 13 years ago | |

the black dots are just activated carbon (the filter) that escapes after the filter starts to break down. What is wrong with your tap water that you feel you can't drink it? I only filter mine because the water near me comes out with a pretty gross taste.

aioprisan 13 years ago |

how do you pour the water out? don't you run into the same issue of taking that filter out? and the shame wastes so much space in the fridge, for better or worse, Brita ones are pretty efficient, space-wise

zdgman 13 years ago |

The ability to recycle the filters should have been played up more! That's one of the biggest things I hate about my current Brita filter.

Would be interesting to see the subscription cost for filters after the initial run.

zachallia 13 years ago | |

It's going to be $15 every two months

zdgman 13 years ago | | |

That's great considering that a single Brita is about seven bucks.

stephengillie 13 years ago |

Interesting. This isn't just a product, it's a product-as-a-service.

zachallia 13 years ago | |

We spent a lot of time figuring out the problems with current in home water drinking. One of the main things was that people forget to change their filter. We're looking to change that behavior!

JulianMorrison 13 years ago | | |

Now they will forget to be at home when the filter deliverer comes around.

cchuang 13 years ago |

Just looked at the Kickstarter, looks like an interesting product. I could totally see this being pitched on Shark Tank for some reason.

ImJasonH 13 years ago |

Does the filter fall out when you pour it? I noticed the video never shows anybody actually pouring water out of it...

edzme 13 years ago |

Oooo the caraffe is slick!