Beth Terry didn’t study environmental science in college. Growing up with four siblings, the environment wasn’t as much of a priority as putting food on the table. And after an 18-month stint as a canvasser for Clean Water Action, Terry was “burned out” by the environmental cause, and frankly, “didn’t want anything to do with ‘eco,’” she says.
Fast-forward to today where Terry is an ardent, outspoken activist against plastic waste.
Terry’s crusade against plastic began after she saw a documentary about the North Pacific Gyre, a floating mass of plastic refuse in the northern Pacific Ocean. According to Terry, it was the gruesome image of an albatross carcass filled with plastic bottle caps and other flotsam and jetsam that tugged at her heartstrings.
“I looked at that and said that some of the plastics inside the bird could have come from me,” says Terry. That image compelled her to start “Fake Plastic Fish,” a blog where she chronicles her efforts to live life with less plastic and helps others do the same.
Her biggest success to date has to do with Brita water filters. One day, Terry was switching out the filter in her Brita pitcher and wondered if it was possible to recycle it. After some on-line sleuthing, she discovered that it was recyclable – but only in Europe.
“It seemed like a no brainer to me to have the same opportunities here,” says Terry. “They’re doing it there, why not here?”
Terry wrote to Clorox, who bought the North American division of Brita in 2000, and learned they had toyed with the possibility of starting a recycling program, but didn’t think people cared enough to participate.
“When we first talked to Clorox, they gave a list of reasons on why it would be too hard for the company to do,” says Terry.
She took it upon herself to let Clorox know that people—and lots of them—cared.
In April of 2008, Terry launched TakeBackTheFilter.org to rally more people to her cause and centralize the effort. The concept was simple: send in your filters and sign a petition to show you care.
It worked. Terry received more than 600 filters.
In November of 2008, Clorox announced a partnership with Preserve to recycle the filters. Now, you can drop off Brita filters for recycling at select Whole Foods across the United States and Canada.
“We educated and empowered thousands of people to realize that if they wanted something to change, they could speak up and have a voice,” says Terry. “I’m hoping that the act of sending in their Brita filters will carry over and mobilize them to take more action when they come across things they might want to change.”
Terry estimates that her plastic waste is about five-percent of the average American’s, but says her low plastic use didn’t happen overnight. At one time, Terry would buy a new bottle of water every time she went to the gym, throw it away and “think nothing of it.”
“Nobody is perfect…just keep doing what you can. Once you have certain things mastered, go for more,” she says. “Making yourself feel guilty is the way to burn out and give up completely.”
