Do you brush your teeth? No? Gross, stay away from me.
Do you brush your teeth? Yes? Well you're probably killing the planet, so stay away from me.
One of the many essentials of hygiene that nearly everyone has in the world is the toothbrush. It helps keep us clean, but it sure don't keep the planet clean. Most people throw their toothbrush out without giving it a second thought on where it goes or what happens to it. However, during our beach cleanup today, I was awakened to the true destination of where most of our toothbrushes end up.
Because over 99% of the toothbrushes in the world are made from non-recyclable plastic, all the toothbrushes end up in landfills or the ocean to waste away for decades to centuries, or to be ingested by an animal and lead them to death. In addition to the forever lasting effect that plastic toothbrushes have on the ocean and environment when thrown away, they're origin and creation is extremely harmful as well. Made from crude oils, rubber, petroleum and other materials such as cardboard and plastics that go into making their packaging, toothbrushes pretty much give a big middle finger to the planet in their creation and demise. Even electric toothbrushes aren't much better due tot he fact they are made of the exact same materials and the batteries used to power them can cause great harm to wildlife and the environment if not disposed of properly.
Overall, North America alone throws away 1 billion toothbrushes a year. Yikes. So, how can we fix this? We can't. Unless we start giving a damn. And to start that, we gotta suck it up and start to be willing to switch products to help our planet and oceans live on. One great alternatives I found for toothbrushes was the classic ol' finger. Getter done. Kidding, that's also gross. But there is a great alternative that is becoming more popular and cheaper as time goes on and that is bamboo toothbrushes. One company, toothcrush, sends subscribers a new toothbrush every month for $50 a year (around $4 per month)- not too shabby. And because bamboo is a plant, its biodegradable, compostible, and safe for animals. They also look nicer too! Bamboo is the new Gucci, live it, love it, buy it, friends.
If you want to learn more about why toothbrushes suck, click on these two links:
If you want to check out bamboo toothbrushes, check out these links:
Nicole, lovely picture that you have for reference! How indredible it is to see how humans kill this planet with everything they make even when they have the resources to not harm it. Also, its very interesting to know that there are other alternatives to stop harming the planet with regular toothbrushes, and ofcourse especially when they are Gucci! Love it #teamNikenda
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very interesting and was fun to read. It is crazy how much ends up in the ocean. I never even considered how even things such as toothbrushes could effect ocean life. Bamboo toothbrushes may be the new move for me
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