Swapping Your Plastic Toothbrush For A Wooden One

This week we launch our new blog series focusing on those disposable household accessories we struggle to do without!

And in this first blog of the series, we really do mean it! The Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted a study in 2003 which revealed that the toothbrush ranked higher than cars, computers, and mobile phones in the respondents’ view of items they could not live without.

Our attachment to the toothbrush is nothing new. Archaeologists have found “tooth sticks” in Egyptian tombs, the Buddha chewed sticks into fluffy-ended scrubbers to clean his teeth and tooth care even occupied the mind of the reigning Chinese emperor Hongzhi in the late 1400s, who designed something that looked a lot like the toothbrush we know today.

It’s no surprise then that the UK alone disposes of approximately 200 million toothbrushes each year weighing in at a massive 6000 tonnes, equivalent to the mass of 60 mighty and majestic blue whales.

While the toothbrushes of old were made from boar bristles, bone and wood, the vast majority of our 6000 tons of toothbrush waste in the 21^st Century is made from plastic, which takes up to 400 years to degrade in our rivers, seas and in landfill.

One eco-swap we pleased to offer our customers is a more sustainable, biodegradable, wooden handled alternative to the traditional plastic handled toothbrush.

After a popular start in our Malton store, we’re delighted to launch these online. They’re available in both adult and children’s sizes on our online store.