Brita

The Brita GmbH is a German manufacturer of drinking water filters, based in Taunusstein- Neuhof in the Rheingau -Taunus-Kreis in Hesse.

Business

The family develops, manufactures and markets water filters for home and commercial use. Through partnerships with manufacturers of home appliances filter cartridges are also incorporated into other devices. This is, for example, refrigerators, water filter kettle or coffee machine.

The company is represented in about 60 countries with subsidiaries or partner companies and employs 1068 employees, including 640 employees in Germany worldwide. Brita generated in 2012 total sales of 322.3 million euros, of which 82 percent outside of Germany. Production takes place in Germany, the UK and Switzerland.

History

Heinz Hankammer founded the company in 1966 with the idea to optimize conventional tap water. Brita was named after the daughter Hankammers. With the " AquaDeMat " the company Brita brought for the first time a product to market, desalinated water for use in car batteries and was initially sold at petrol stations. It was followed by the first water filter for household, whose production was recorded in 1970 in the garden of the entrepreneur. For this water filter Heinz Hankammer applied for a patent and laid the foundation for the company's expansion. 1979 Brita offered to the first interchangeable cartridges.

1980 Brita began the expansion of the product portfolio for commercial use as well as the first international sales activities. In the UK, Brita founded the first foreign subsidiary " Brita Water Filter Systems Ltd. " In subsequent years, Brita established additional subsidiaries.

Since 1992, replaceable cartridges are recycled. 2004 Brita began partnerships with manufacturers of water filter kettles, espresso and coffee machines, household water dispensers, refrigerators and tightly integrated into the water pipe water filters to broaden the scope of the filter cartridge. In early 1999 took over the second generation of the family, the company. Since then, Mark Hankammer CEO of Brita GmbH. Heinz Hankammer was Chairman in the newly established Supervisory Board of " Brita ".

Filters for drinking water

Referred to as filter cartridge product filter drinking water and consists of ion exchange resins and activated carbon. The preparation process using this technique involves four steps: pre-filtration, ion-exchange, active carbon filtration and particulate filtration. In the first step the water flows through a fine filter mesh. When ion exchange occurring lime and possibly lead or copper components are reduced. The activated carbon filtration reduces odor and taste interfering substances. This can be, for example chlorine and chlorine compounds. In the last step, the Trapfiltration, takes out a fine mesh filter particulate mixture.

Currently there are two cartridge systems, the older with the name " Classic" and the more recent " Maxtra ". In normal use, the cartridges hold approximately 30 days in both systems. For both filter systems there are now cheaper replicas of other manufacturers.

Domestic use

By reducing the lime and chlorine content of the drinking water filter achieved supposedly a better taste for hot drinks. This is intended to coffee and tea develop their full flavor and disappear streaks on tea. To demonstrate this effect, showed the company founder Heinz Hankammer the " Teetest ". To this end, he compared teas that were cooked with filtered and unfiltered water and were cooled for a while. Tea, which is cooked with filtered water, forms no streaks.

Kalkreduziertes water is to ensure that equipment such as hot water heaters, tea and coffee machine, egg boiler or steam iron calcify less quickly. Catering establishments and operators of self-service machines use the filter cartridges, for example, between the water line and their devices (eg coffee, espresso machine, dishwasher, combi-steamer ).

Criticism

Criticism of the company

On 13 April 2012, the company for the commercialization of the drinking water supply of students with simultaneous creation of user profiles with the Big Brother Award in the category " economy" was considered. The company had introduced the so-called School Project Water in some public schools. These students were able to tap into the respective schools tap water only with special RFID bottles after a monthly fee for the use has been paid. The company described the ' awards ' in a statement as " incomprehensible, as no personal data would be collected ."

Criticism of the technology of drinking water filter

The cartridge out of the water many nutritionally important calcium and magnesium ions. Food manufacturers who want to appeal to a health-conscious clientele, advertise with a high content just these minerals in their products. On the other hand, the WHO has found that most of the calcium and magnesium is added via solid food.

Next, the cartridges also tend to operate under normal use for contamination. The manufacturer tries to reduce this contamination; this he uses in the production of the ion exchanger present in the cartridge a silver compound. A contamination of tap water with silver can not be excluded, even if the WHO in its " Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality" finds that it can not come to critical values ​​at the maximum expected silver uptake via water and food. In German waterworks may, in the drinking water ordinance not be used for disinfection of silver. Since the treated water but not drinking water regulations, but only the food, Commodities and Feed Code is subject to other legal bases apply here. According to a publication of the Federal Environment Agency will Brita 140 kg of silver per year processed, " which annually 26-43 kg washed out depending on the cartridge type, it gets silver in concentrations of 0.019 to 0.05 mg / L in the filtered water. The rest remains in the cartridges and is recycled after the withdrawal by Brita in our own facility. "

The manufacturer also promises to reduce the lead content in tap water. However, this is only important there where still lead pipes are laid, which is becoming the exception, at least in Germany.

Sponsorship and Social Responsibility

Brita has been involved in the 1990s in the fields of sport, culture, art and social issues. The Brita Kindergarten was founded in 1992 as the first operating nursery in the region. Other initiatives at the site Taunus stone are the Arts Award, the 2011 was revived and has been offered for the first time in 2012, as well as cooperation with local sheltered workshops. Since the 1980s, the company supports the football club SV contractions (new: Wehen ), which plays in the third division for the 2009/2010 season. The Brita Arena emerged from this engagement.

Customs dispute

The European Court of Justice (ECJ ) ruled on 25 February 2010 that the import of Ma'ale Adumim settlement in the produced in the West Bank SodaStream merchandise is to raise inches. In submitted by the Fiscal Court of Hamburg case, the manufacturer SodaStream had declared the Ma'ale Adumim -made in bottles as Israeli products and Brita wanted to introduce as duty free. The Customs Office Hamburg refused this, Brita moved against it in court. The Financial Court of Hamburg provided some questions to the ECJ. From the judgment of the ECJ conclusions on the international legal assessment of the Israeli settlement policy by the European Union can be drawn. A subsequent decision of the Hamburg Finance Court declined accordingly from the granting of preferential tariff. The Federal Fiscal Court rejected a revision as unfounded.