How to dispose of your bamboo toothbrush

Wondering what the actual benefits of using a bamboo toothbrush are? Environmentally speaking, the biggest benefit comes when you’re finished with it, but only if you dispose of it properly…

Environmentally friendly products have blown up over the past 5 years, with ecommerce businesses (such as ours) offering new and innovative solutions to help people live more sustainably. With everything from bamboo toothbrushes to natural deodorants at your fingertips, there’s hope for a greener future for consumers.

That said, with consumer behaviour leaning more and more towards sustainability, many businesses are trying to oversell the environmental benefits of products that may actually rank pretty poorly on the ethical scale. This is called ‘greenwashing’, and it’s actually a pretty crappy thing to do (all puns intended), because it lures consumers into a false sense of sustainability.

We believe that you need to know exactly how your Brushbox brush benefits the planet, including everything from ordering to disposal. We’ll never exaggerate or greenwash our process. We’re just here to tell you the facts.

Plastic vs bamboo 

One of the biggest environmental benefits of a Brushbox brush is that you have several options to dispose of it sustainably. Like the rest of the plastic coated everyday essentials that are cluttering our lives, a plastic toothbrush will remain in the environment for at least 400 years!

On the other hand, if you use a bamboo toothbrush, the majority of your brush will decompose in just 2-3 weeks!

How to dispose of a bamboo toothbrush

Option 1

The best option is to remove the bristles and add the bamboo to your garden waste bin. This waste is sent to an industrial composting facility by the council. This method is the fastest way to decompose the brush (in 2-3 weeks).

Option 2

The next best option is to remove the bristles and dispose of your brush in a home composting bin. This is a pretty cool method if, like us, you’re into the eco-warrior life. It means your old toothbrush can actually be broken down into a compost that you can spread over your plants to help them grow. Which, in turn, is great for natural wildlife. Ah, the circle of life!

Option 3

If all else fails, you can remove the bristles and dispose of your brush handle in your food waste bin. Bamboo is biodegradable, so it will break down with the rest of your food waste.

Let’s talk about the bristles

You’ll notice that in every instance we instruct our bamboo-loving customers to remove their toothbrush bristles. These need to be removed and recycled responsibly. 

We have to be specific about this, because it’s the only way to promote transparency and safe toothbrush disposal. BUT, we remain wholeheartedly proud of the jump forward we’re making here. The fact that the majority of your Brushbox brush will decompose in as little as 2 weeks is an incredible improvement on plastic brushes.

The scale of the problem: plastic toothbrushes

When we were developing Brushbox, it became clear that large corporations were heavily focused on selling a cure with poor oral hygiene practices at a huge environmental cost.

In an endless cycle of causing problems and selling a false solution, nearly 1 billion plastic single-use brushes are disposed of every year. These brushes will likely never decompose and most will end up in our oceans.

It’s imperative that you change your toothbrush every 2-3 months to take proper care of your teeth, but this would usually have a gargantuan impact on environmental plastic. 

Brushbox’s mission

We founded Brushbox with the core value of making a big difference through little changes. We believe it’s the little things that can add up to create massive impacts.

We realised quickly the solution wasn’t only in creating the Bamboo toothbrushes. We needed to offer a socially responsible service supplying regular fresh brushes and pastes without damaging the environment in the process.

All our products and packaging are made with an ecologically friendly mindset with a huge focus on our own individual oral health.

Want to find out more about our other environmental agendas? Read about our partnership with Eden Reforestation Projects here