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Environment

WaterBean purifies tap water to reduce plastic bottle waste

By Dave Parrack
July 28, 2013
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The WaterBean portable water filter (Updated model)
The WaterBean portable water filter (Updated model)
The WaterBean portable water filter (Updated model)
The WaterBean portable water filter (Updated model)
View gallery - 3 images

Update (May 5, 2022): WaterBean has updated the design of its device and the images of the original WaterBean have been removed from this article and replaced with images of the new model. The text has not been changed.

It's a given that recycling waste products is a good thing. It's certainly better than sending our trash to landfill where it will sit rotting (or not, in the case of non-biodegradable waste) for decades to come. However, even better than recycling is to not create the waste in the first place. Bottled water is now big business, and more popular than ever before, but bottled water guzzles energy and creates waste that really doesn't need to be created. The WaterBean portable water filter offers one possible solution to the problem.

WaterBean is a portable water filter which "purifies" tap water. The word "purifies" is in quotation marks because WaterBean will not turn a dirty puddle into water you'd want (or be advised) to drink. Rather than being designed as a system for people in developing countries to use to make dirty water clean enough to drink, WaterBean is designed to persuade people who currently buy endless bottles of water to stick with one bottle for a long time.

According to WaterBean, the device cleans impurities such as "chlorine, odors and bad taste," as well as adding magnesium to the water. It can be fitted into any water bottle and potentially prevent up to 280 bottles (140 liters) heading for landfill every year. The filters, each of which lasts up to three months, contain granulated all-natural activated coconut carbon, which the company says is totally safe if ingested. The WaterBean itself is made from BPA-free materials and designed to never need replacing if it's well looked after.

The WaterBean portable water filter (Updated model)

Instructions for use are very simple; after inserting the filter you're advised to shake the bottle for about five seconds before gently swirling the water around for a short time. The longer the water is swirled, the better it will taste, or at least that's the theory. The old filters can be composted, thus adding to the green credentials of WaterBean.

We've featured several water-purification products with important, potentially life-saving properties previously here on Gizmag, including the LifeStraw and the NDūR Survival Straw. Both of these work by filtering harmful bacteria and micro-organisms out of water as it's sucked up from its source. WaterBean is not in the same league as those products in terms of purification capabilities, but that's not the intention here. It's aimed squarely at reducing the number of plastic bottles which currently end up in landfill, and that's a very valid goal.

According to Graeme Glen, the Japan-based entrepreneur behind WaterBean, the average person gets through 167 plastic bottles every year, which together produces 1.5 million tonnes of waste, partly because 75 percent of plastic water bottles don't get recycled.

The WaterBean is currently available through Indiegogo, with Glen seeking $35,000 by August 18. Pledges begin at US$12, which will get you one WaterBean with a filter included plus an extra filter pack (containing two filters).

Sources: The WaterBean, Indiegogo

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Tags

EnvironmentWaterWastePurificationMagnesiumPlasticWater Bottle
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Dave Parrack
Dave is a technology journalist with a ravenous appetite for gadgets, gizmos, and gubbins. He's based in the UK, and from his center of operations writes about all facets of modern and future technology. He has learned more in his five years writing for the Web than he did in 11 years at school, and with none of the boring subjects thrown in to the mix.
18 comments
Slowburn
I am glad to have chlorine added to the municipal water supply but I remove it with a filter pitcher. Fluoride which thankfully has been banned in much of the first world is still added to many American municipal water supplies.
Freyr Gunnar
In case tap water contains too much chlorine, just let it sit open (not capped) in the fridge for a couple of hours and it's gone.
No need to pay 100x more for bottled water.
Roy Murray
Most bottled water is from the municipal supply anyway. I agree with the sentiment of reducing bottled water usage as the litter associated with bottled water is a blight on society adding huge amounts of plastic to landfills open spaces and our oceans. Somehow, a generation ago, people managed just fine without carrying water around with them. With regard to fluoride, this filter will have no effect but the whole fluoride controversy is artificially generated. Municipalities have added fluoride to water for decades with very positive effects on dental health, especially in children and the poor.
Dsd Sds
Plastic bottles are mostly made from BPA plastics that mimic estrogen the harmone women have and need .The plastic bottles giving Estrogen mimickers causes hyper feminizing for women period starting for young girls of 8 and often acumulates in breasts and Ovarian regions and increases cancer in the estrogen regions .For men it leads to lowering of testosterone feminizing men with breast size increases testicular cancers and other effects like lack of ability to perform as males .The BPA estrogen mimicker materiel in Plastic bottles is increased dramatically with plastic bottle reuse as the each use of the plastic bottles will leach out more BPA.If this invention is to help exterminate the human race with not being able to reproduce then its a good bio weapon .They have to include a non BPA plastic insert liner for the bottles they intend to use to ensure this weapon of mass destruction is neutralized
Slowburn
re; Freyr Gunnar
They have introduced a modified chlorination system that is great for pools but the chlorine compound does not evaporate out of the water even if you boil it.
re; Roy Murray
Are you afraid you company with have to pay for the disposal of your toxic waste instead of selling it.
The problem with landfills is that so much stuff is put into them that would be better burned in properly scrubbed waste-to-energy incinerators, although the plastic might be better separated out for being turned into motor fuel.
gerald
It seems that a lot of water bottles used are while away from home, such as campgrounds, beaches, hiking, biking, etc. So fridge filters and the like are useless in such situations. Under the circumstances suggested above, I for one say it's one terrific idea. So, KUDOS for Graeme Glen and his associates for developing an environmentally and socially responsible prod uct.
TedF
Hi Slowburn
You may be interested to know that drinking water is fluoridated in the UK and we are happy about it. Our population is not quite so paranoid as in the good ol' USA.
David Leithauser
Why is this better than the carbon filters that are currently available, where the water passes through the filter as you squeeze the bottle to squirt the water into your mouth? That provides water much faster.
Atwas911
Um.. This is not a "water filter"
This does not remove anything from water other than odor.
This does not clean water.
ezeflyer
Another way to reuse empty capped water bottles could be as lightweight flotation inside ship or houseboat hulls.
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