Pratt Institute graduate students Charlotte Böhning and Mary Lempres have designed a collection of carbon water filters made completely without fossil fuels, using waste from their own kitchens.
The four-piece range, called Strøm, includes a sustainable substitute for Brita filter cartridges, purifying sticks that can be added into cups or bottles and a self-cleaning pitcher and carafe.
The Strøm collection includes squiggly filtration sticks (top and above)
Traditional water filters consist of activated carbon housed in plastic cartridges, both of which are generally derived from non-renewable coal and petroleum.
But for their designs, the graduate students have developed a new fossil-fuel-free material, made by turning food waste into carbon-rich biochar and combining it with natural resins, so it can be shaped like a thermoplastic. The range also includes a filter cartridge
The resulting composite acts as both filter and vessel at the same time and, unlike the 100 million polypropylene cartridges that end up in landfills every year, will decompose in soil over the course of a single month.
"By utilizing an existing waste stream, we can reduce the negative lifecycle impact of water filtration," Lempres told Dezeen.
"While carbon filtration immobilises harmful contaminants, the plastic cartridge's only function is to hold the activated carbon," she continued. "Meanwhile, sourcing, manufacturing and injection-moulding the polypropylene are the l...