Where does your toothbrush go when it gets old? The chances are it ends up in the landfill, in the US alone, that\u2019s where an estimated 1 billion go to every year. And once in landfill, the toothbrush, made of polypropylene plastic and nylon will not break down, and worse can reach rivers or even the sea. Two decades ago, the first sustainable toothbrush was designed by inventor Eric Hudson under his brand Preserve.<\/p>\n
Yet the conventional plastic toothbrush is still king. As a result, it has inspired innovative eco alternatives including\u00a0bamboo-made\u00a0brushes, one with a handle made from recycled yoghurt pots and bristles made from\u00a0pig hair. We learn more about some of the alternatives.<\/p>\n
Hudson, the founder of Preserve ( @Preserve\u00a0) has seen progress in a market that is starting to have increased awareness. He first started his journey in 1996 after realising that not enough was being done to put recycled products into better use. Since the creation of their novel toothbrush, the company have extended their product range to sustainable and functional items such as razors and reusable kitchen-ware. According to a feature in\u00a0The Guardian<\/a>, the Preserve toothbrush has now become the most popular in the US toothbrush in the country\u2019s $85.5bn (\u00a367bn) natural grocery market and is on sale in 18 different countries.<\/p>\n After months of consultation with dentists, scientists and engineers, the business\u00a0has received many awards along the way and are now B corp certified. Unique in its design, Preserve\u2019s manufacturing process comes from discarded plastics and used yoghurt pots while the bristles are produced from new nylon.<\/p>\n So why haven\u2019t eco toothbrushes made it to supermarket shelves across the world? After an interview with\u00a0The Guardian, Hudson said: \u201cA lot of big brands say that they don\u2019t see the \u2018purchase intent\u2019 among customers for recyclable toothbrushes. But for us, that\u2019s not the point: the point is to lighten the footprint of the product from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n This is not the only initiative that the Massachusetts based firm have focused on. The company have also created another unique\u00a0way to prolong the life of recycled materials with their Gimme 5 campaign. Now there are 400 recycling bins dotted around the US so consumers are able to dispose any polypropylene plastics which can then be turned into Preserve\u2019s toothbrush handles. After introducing the campaign in 2008, more than 500,000 kg of plastic has been prevented from going to landfill. The initiative has also been sponsored by baby-food manufacturer Plum Organics and Danone-owned yoghurt brand Stoneyfield Farm. \u201cToothbrushes get completely lost in the recycling process… often they\u2019re destined [for] waste-to-energy or shipped overseas, so the Gimme 5 programme definitely has a lighter impact on the earth,\u201d says Hudson.<\/p>\n