In our quest for sustainability, plastic is definitely a major enemy. Which is why getting rid of your plastic toothbrush, and swapping it with a zero waste toothbrush, is so very important. Plastic toothbrushes are not biodegradable or recyclable, and all the plastic toothbrushes we’ve ever used are all out there somewhere, stubbornly littering the landscape and refusing to merge with the soil. It’s a real problem when the numbers of toothbrushes being discarded every year are in the billions.
For a complete cleaning of your teeth (that’s also plastic-free), check out eco friendly floss options.
If you’re in a hurry, and just want to know the best zero waste toothbrush you need to buy, then it’s either Battle Green, or Life Without Plastic (not vegan) or Truthbrush. And if you’re looking for a zero waste toothbrush for pets, try this one.
- Why Worry About Our Toothbrush?
- Why is Bamboo in Every Zero Waste Toothbrush?
- 13 Best Zero Waste Toothbrush Options for Squeaky Clean Teeth
- 1 // Battle Green | UK
- 2 // BamBrush | Canada
- 3 // Bamkiki | Australia
- 4 // Brush with Bamboo | USA
- 5 // Conscient Kind | USA
- 6 // EcoRoots | USA
- 7 // Georganics | UK
- 8 // Life Without Plastic | Canada
- 9 // Me Mother Earth | USA
- 10 // Swak | UK
- 11 // Terra & Co. | USA
- 12 // The Humble Co. | Sweden
- 13 // Truthbrush | UK
- Eco-friendly Electric Toothbrush
- How to Recycle Electric Toothbrushes
Why Worry About Our Toothbrush?
Every year, we toss away billions of plastic toothbrushes, which are neither biodegradable nor compostable. The just sit in the landfill, never to go anywhere.
The average person uses 300 toothbrushes through their entire life. The United States alone tosses one billion plastic toothbrushes every year into the trash.
Luckily people are realizing this, and now, low waste or zero waste personal care essentials are becoming more popular, and luckily, and the zero waste toothbrush is one of them. We cannot do without brushing our teeth everyday, so it’s super important to find a sustainable toothbrush that is healthy for you and also safe for the environment.
Why is Bamboo in Every Zero Waste Toothbrush?
Every toothbrush in this list below has the handle made with bamboo. Bamboo is renewable, being a plant (and is the world’s fastest naturally renewing resource). It is an environmentally sustainable material, and biodegradable and compostable. That makes it perfect as a toothbrush handle. It takes about 3 to 4 months to decompose. It is also inherently anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial, and does not leak chemicals such as BPA. There’s basically no drawback (except for needing to maintain it in dry conditions, so it doesn’t get moldy).
In addition, most bamboo is additionally beneficial, since solid most bamboo products have a negative carbon footprint (CO2 neutral or better) over its lifecycle.
13 Best Zero Waste Toothbrush Options for Squeaky Clean Teeth
What is the most environmentally friendly toothbrush? One that is low waste, of course, and has been sustainably manufactured. Looking into the entire supply chain of products will give the best idea of its sustainability. What materials are used and how were they sourced? What manufacturing processes have been employed for producing the item? How eco-friendly is the packaging? And, while this may not directly relate to the environment, how employee-friendly and fair are their practices and wages?
Let’s take a look at the best zero waste toothbrush options available.
THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE DETAILS.
1 // Battle Green | UK
Price: £24.95 (for a year)
Bristles: 100% bio-based (castor oil), and no nylon.
Battle Green’s name gives it away, doesn’t it? Environmental sustainability is vital to them, to be done on a war footing, and they offer several eco-friendly products on their site. They only use recyclable or compostable materials for packing and palm oil-free ingredients. They also partner with Surfers Against Sewage to clean up their local beach.
2 // BamBrush | Canada
Price: CAD$17.95 (family pack)
Bristles: Made with hygienic nylon. Not compostable.
This biodegradable bamboo toothbrush has a handle made from 100% biodegradable moso bamboo and bristles made from nylon. They pack the brushes in unbleached paper sleeves. They have a subscription plan for regular purchases.
3 // Bamkiki | Australia
Price: AUD$14.90 (pack of 2)
Bristles: Made with nylon. Not compostable.
This brush is made with moso bamboo and nylon bristles. Here’s how they recommend disposing of your used bamboo toothbrush.
The Australian brand donates 5% of their profits to the Royal Flying Doctor Services for their Outback Oral Health Program.
4 // Brush with Bamboo | USA
Price: $20 (pack of 4)
Bristles: Made with 100% castor bean oil, but not compostable.
The pioneer, and for a long time “the world’s first and only plant-based toothbrush,” Brush with Bamboo is very serious about the environmental impact of toothbrushes. They use USDA certified 100% Biobased Bristles, moso bamboo brush handle and 100% compostable packaging. The brushes are also vegan, FDA registered, and Green American certified.Check out what they recommend for the proper care and disposal of bamboo toothbrushes.
5 // Conscient Kind | USA
Price: $3.29 (per toothbrush)
Bristles: Made with Nylon 6 infused with charcoal. Not biodegradable.
The handle is made with most bamboo and the bristles are made of nylon, but Conscient Kind goes above and beyond with their packaging: “We package every order using absolutely no plastic. We opt for reusing cardboard boxes when available and using recycled tissue paper, water activated paper tape, single faced corrugated cardboard and old magazines and junk mail for padding. We collect all of these from our neighbors, family and friends and we use only what is necessary to keep your shipment safe during transport.”
6 // EcoRoots | USA
Price: $14.90 (set of 4)
Bristles: Made with BPA-free, non-toxic nylon. Not biodegradable.
The brand is certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny, is vegan, and packages everything in recyclable or compostable materials.
7 // Georganics | UK
Price: £4.40
Bristles: Made with BPA-free nylon. Not compostable.
The toothbrush handle is made from sustainable and home-compostable FSC beechwood. Georganics ensures that every tree cut down is re-planted and that all excess material is used heating (zero waste!). The toothbrush comes in a recyclable and compostable carton.
8 // Life Without Plastic | Canada
Price: USD $74.95 (pack of 8)
Bristles: Made with boar hair. Fully compostable, but obviously not vegan.
Life without plastic is fantastic! Besides, Life Without Plastic’s bamboo toothbrush is fully compostable since the bristles are made with boar hair. This is the most eco-friendly toothbrush on this list. But it isn’t necessarily cruelty-free, and although the boar hair is a by-product of the meat industry, we don’t know anything about the condition of the boars before they were slaughtered. We can probably assume they were not kept in good conditions, and this is one of the contradictions of eco-friendliness versus animal ethics. Best to go with the bio-based bristles, I think!
But Life Without Plastic has a huge collection of plastic-free essentials for you and your home, so do check them out!
9 // Me Mother Earth | USA
Price: $2.99
Bristles: Made with bamboo, with nylon base. Not compostable.
The handle is made from bamboo and bristles also have bamboo – bamboo charcoal fiber fights plaque – but the base is still nylon, so the bristles are not compostable.
Me Mother Earth donates to ocean conservation and environmental charities from proceeds from their sales.
10 // Swak | UK
Price: £11.20
Bristles: Made with miswak wood. Biodegradable.
This toothbrush is sort of the opposite of the others here: the handle is made from plastic and the ‘head’ from meswak wood, a biodegradable material. The plastic is bio-based plastic (PLA), though, and the head is replaceable (and available for sale separately). Swak advises brushing once a day with their toothbrush, and doing it without any paste.
The word ‘swak’ is from ‘meswak’ and meswak is a traditional teeth-cleaning twig derived from the Salvadora persica tree.
11 // Terra & Co. | USA
Price: $10.00
Bristles: Made with BPA-free nylon. Not compostable.
This very stylish toothbrush has a water-resistant bamboo handle, although you have to remove the paint before composting it. The packaging is made from recycled paper and the nylon bristles can be recycled in recycling facilities (drop them into the correct bin at home).
The brand was founded by two women (who are sisters), and they support other women entrepreneurs, and help out low-income and homeless women.
12 // The Humble Co. | Sweden
Price: €4.99 (pack of 2)
Bristles: DuPont nylon. Not biodegradable.
Image link:
The Humble Co. was founded by a dentist, and its slogan is Because there is no Planet B. The brand partners with the Humble Smile Foundation in support of projects around the world.
13 // Truthbrush | UK
Price: £4.50
Bristles: 100% Castor oil
This is an award-winning product, and the company is run by an all-woman team. Their products are all vegan, shipping is carbon-neutral, and they are members of 1% for the Planet.
They have a subscription plan for regular deliveries. Here’s their care advice for the Truthbrush bamboo toothbrush.
Eco-friendly Electric Toothbrush
Can electric toothbrushes be eco-friendly? Not really, because the body is generally not recyclable (plastic). Plus, you need to dispose of alkaline batteries safely, and the more recent lithium batteries are very difficult to recycle.
However, since electric toothbrushes have more long-lasting parts, and some companies are working on increasing the eco-friendliness of electric toothbrushes, we do have some… options to look into.
1 // Foreo Issa Electric Toothbrush
Price: $169
This electric toothbrush has a sleek Swedish design and is the “world’s first silicone sonic toothbrush.” The silicone in the brush heads is medical-grade, and each charge of the battery will last for 365 uses, which is quite incredible. Plus, they recommend replacing the brush head only once every 6 months to a year.
Obviously, the disposal of this toothbrush poses a challenge, and there didn’t seem to be any info on the Foreo website on recycling programs. So, not a great option after all.
2 // Georganics Sonic Toothbrush
Price: £49.90
This advanced electric toothbrush uses sonic technology and high frequency vibrations to brush your teeth. It’s powered by lithium batteries, so if you’re wondering what’s so eco-friendly about this: well, this is as “eco-friendly” as an electric toothbrush can get. On the plus side, Georganics has a Zero to Landfill recycling plan, where you can send your used toothbrush heads (minimum 10 at a time) back to Georganics, who will recycle them and keep them out of the landfill. Send the toothbrush handle to Georganics, once you’re done with it, for proper disposal, in tune with circular economy principles.
And they package the product in recyclable and compostable carton material.
3 // Be.Brush.
Price: $99
No batteries needed, so this is not strictly an electric toothbrush. You power up this toothbrush by twisting the bottom. The Be.Brush. is a product by Goodwell (the Be stands for ‘Beyond electric’) and began as a Kickstarter project. The patented design makes this a manually powered toothbrush, so ‘electric’ is a misnomer. The body of this brush is recyclable and you will need to change the biodegradable brush head every three months (and you will have to keep buying the brush heads through their subscription plan of $21 for a 3-pack refill).
4 // LiveCoco Recyclable Toothbrush Heads
If you already have an electric toothbrush, you can try the recyclable toothbrush heads made by LiveCoco. These heads are compatible with most Oral-B electric toothbrushes. You may or may not be able to recycle them at your local recycler, but you can definitely send them back to LiveCoco for recycling once you’re done using them.
Another option you could try is ecoELEMENT. Or the bamboo toothbrush head by Truthbrush (which fits the Philips Sonicare brushes).
This section was just for information. Obviously, the best option is to use regular toothbrushes that are recyclable. Electric toothbrushes are too damn high-maintenance for the planet.
How to Recycle Electric Toothbrushes
You can drop off your electric toothbrushes at your local recycling centre if they accept electricals. Or try asking the local electricals store if they accept used electric toothbrushes (or know anyone who does). These seem to be the only options for us consumers, aside from sending the electric toothbrush back to the manufacturer (provided that option exists). But don’t you wonder: how robust is their recycling program? I remain skeptical.
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THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE DETAILS.
NOTE: All brand photographs belong to the respective brands/businesses.
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