I believe the reason this is now done is because laws were passed that allowed "gray water" to be discharged from home water systems. As soon as that happened, washing machine mfgs stopped putting lint filters in washing machineso. I had an old GE machine that had a donut shaped filter that went over the agitator. If I had known I could no longer get a machine with a lint filter, I would have paid whatever it would have cost to save the machine. If I wash a fuzzy rug now, I have to run an empty load to clean out the washer and it still doesn't get all the lint out. What a change for the worse! Progress?