Bamboo Toothbrushes

Bamboo Toothbrushes

According to National Geographic, in 2019 a billion plastic toothbrushes were thrown away, in the USA alone! 

That’s a lot of toothbrushes. It’s great that everyone is taking care of their oral health. However it’s not so great that each of those billion toothbrushes are made from plastic. Often a plastic can’t be recycled because of its small size. A typical plastic toothbrush may take 500 to a 1,000 years to fully decompose in a landfill. 

Think about this: The plastic toothbrush was invited in the 1930s, – those toothbrushes are still out there!! Not even close to decomposing.  

Let me take a moment to wrap my head (or should I say teeth) around that. According to the American Dental Association, you should change your toothbrush every 3 months. In one year that equals to 4 toothbrushes used. Ok let’s say an average lifespan of a human being is 72 years old (info based from the UN global average life expectancy). In one lifespan, a human will use 288 toothbrushes (not counting the ones bought/lost during travels!). That’s only for one person. Adding family members and/or spouse, then you can figure out the math there.  A plastic toothbrush should not be outliving the human race…. 

One way to make sure your plastic toothbrush doesn’t end up in the landfill, or in the waters, is to switch to a bamboo toothbrush! Bamboo is a renewable resource in which it regrows itself in a fast timeframe. Bamboos can also tolerate extreme conditions that most plants can’t, which makes it a great source for toothbrushes. 

The Bamboo handle itself is also compostable. Simply by removing the bristles then it’s ready to be composted or reused. 

If you follow me over on Instagram @sustainablyamber you’ll know about my repurposed toothbrush projects. A few examples can be found here.

Here is a more detailed blog post to about repurposing bamboo toothbrushes too.

Are you wondering: So where can you find a bamboo toothbrush? I’ve seen quite a few mainstreamed ones in big box stores. But sadly they are often wrapped in a hard plastic shell (ironic right!?) Instead, I like supporting small independent businesses. You get better customer service and I truly know that my purchase is making a difference.  

Enter a small sustainable company selling their own toothbrushes (and more): Me Mother Earth! Run by a husband and wife team and they have the most affordable bamboo toothbrushes I’ve found on the market (and of course without being wrapped in plastic, thank you!)

They offer both adult and kids toothbrushes. A 4 pack of adult brushes (which come wrapped in cardboard) is $8.99, which makes that about $2.25 per brush. You are welcome to use my affiliate code SustainAmber15 for 15% off, that comes out to $1.91 per brush! I am a customer myself, and I now have a toothbrush provider I know I can trust and rely upon. Yes a toothbrush provider, these kind of things are important in living a sustainable lifestyle!  I also really like that they have different symbols on the handles themselves. Makes it much easier to know which one your brush is, especially if living within a household.

They offer much more than just toothbrushes though. If you’re interested in switching over to any other type of sustainable product – they most likely have it. My code works on all their items not just toothbrushes. (Please know I do receive a small commission if you decide to use my code, it’s a small way you can support the work I do…and I use that to try more of their products and share my thoughts/experience with you all.)
Just imagine if each of those millions of people in the US currently using plastic toothbrushes would start using a bamboo toothbrush. What would that look like? A little less waste is always welcomed and Mother Earth (both the brand and our planet) would thank you.

Happy sustainable brushing to you!
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