Approximately 1 billion empty toothpaste tubes are sent to landfills every year?
The packaging used for oral care products is manufactured to last forever, and yet a typical household will throw away one or more empty tubes every month.
The various components comprising the typical toothpaste tube can include any number of plastics, aluminium, steel and even nylon. For a toothpaste tube to be recycled it means each of these components must be processed separately. So on top of the CO2 pollution involved in the production of each individual tube, it then becomes a very complicated process for the recyclers.
Toothpaste tubes are generally made with aluminium or plastic. The process of converting raw bauxite (the source of aluminium that makes up 8 percent of the earth’s crust) into aluminium is an energy-consuming one, requiring roughly 7.5 kilowatt hours for each pound of virgin aluminium. Plastic is not biodegradable, taking up to 700 years before beginning to decompose.
It’s not just the packaging- the chemical, parabens and triclosan that go down the drain also wreak havoc with animal hormones and the environment. Imagine every person, in every household spitting these chemicals down the drain and them washing into our natural water systems.
So what can you do?
Here’s a recipe to make your own toothpaste at home – just store in an airtight, upcycled glass jar.
Ingredients
- 3 ounces sea salt
- 6 ounces baking soda
- 5 drops of peppermint and/or clove oil (optional)
Method
Mix all ingredients together. That’s it!
For hygiene reasons it’s sensible to make each member of the household their own jar of toothpaste. To use, just dip your toothbrush in the toothpaste.
By choosing to make your own toothpaste, or buy toothpaste with sustainable packaging you can reduce waste going to landfill and save both the water and energy involved in the production and disposal of these products.
If you don’t like the idea of homemade toothpaste there are other products available, for instance:
Don’t have time to make your own? Ditch the tube and brush with Lush preservative-free solid toothpaste tabs for a fresh, sparkling smile.
Of course it’s not only the toothpaste tube that is not biodegradable; the plastic tooth brush is just as bad.
In Australia, over 30 million toothbrushes are used and disposed of by Australians each year, amounting to approximately 1000 tonnes of landfill each year. The plastic they’re made of won’t break down in our lifetime, or within the lifetime of our children. Imagine that on a global scale.
The Bamboo Tooth Brush
The market for bamboo products has exploded in recent years and there are now quite a few bamboo toothbrushes to choose from.
Try the Humble Brush which you can find stocked in Waitrose and Whole Foods as well as Boots and Superdrug (and many more). The handle is made from 100% biodegradable bamboo, although the bristles are nylon and will need to be removed before composting.
If you’re looking to go completely plastic-free you could try the wooden brush from German company Life Without Plastic. They’re made from sustainably harvested beech wood, and the bristles are made from pig hair, which means that, although they’re not suitable for vegans, they can be completely composted after use.
Finally if neither of these options works for you, a conventional toothbrush or electric toothbrush with replaceable head (rather than throwing away the whole thing) will reduce single-use plastic consumption. The Source toothbrush is made from recycled materials and claims to reduce “93% of waste from standard brushing”.
By Rosalind Wastnidge
