Have you ever wondered why one American multinational brand needs to produce over 50 types of toothpaste? Plus who needs the stripey bit? Mind you, aren’t we blessed not to have lived centuries ago with no toothpaste; breath must have been a knockout …
Every year, 300 million toothpaste tubes are disposed of – just in the UK. That’s enough plastic to fill over 7,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools with discarded tubes! Imagine how many are discarded every year in the world! The tubes have a thin layer of aluminium sandwiched between different types of plastic; this makes them extremely difficult to recycle. If thrown into landfill, each toothpaste tube takes 500 years to breakdown, and then only into microplastics.
What about the estimated 10 per cent of the product that remains when we think the tube is empty? Try cutting the tube, which will reveal at least another few days’ supply. Recycling is not really the answer to the problem, and can we be absolutely sure where the tubes will end up?
Much more importantly, there are concerns about the harm to human health, with repeated use, from some of the chemicals in conventional toothpaste; ingredients such as triclosan (anti- bacterial), sodium lauryl sulphate (foaming agent), titanium dioxide (white pigment), artificial sweeteners, bleaching agents, etc. Perhaps have a closer inspection of the ingredients (you will probably need a magnifying glass!) and then you may wish to research them.
So, could you consider switching to toothpaste in a glass jar; toothpaste tablets? These are produced from more natural ingredients, which are beneficial both to health and to the natural world. Why not browse a local shop selling eco-friendly products for the different options available?
In addition, we could save water by turning off the tap whilst we are brushing; that would save about 6 litres per minute!
Let’s make the planet gleam a little more.
The Environmental Impact of Brushing Your Teeth and How to Make a Change
The Best and Worst Toothpaste Ingredients
