THE PATH TO ECO-FRIENDLY TEETH!
Brushing our teeth: it’s something we do twice a day, every day. Most dentists recommended a two-minute routine which equates to more than a whole day each year spent just brushing our teeth. We strongly advise against undertaking that mammoth routine in one go! With such a large amount of time allocated to our dental health, we thought it would be worth highlighting some of the ways to make sure that this time is good for your teeth, and good for the planet. Here are some of our eco-friendly teeth tips:
Turn off the water
Whether out of choice or habit, lots of people keep the tap running when they brush their teeth. A running tap uses 6 litres of water every minute, which means that over the year you will waste over 8,000 litres each year whilst brushing your teeth – that’s the amount of water of 8 family-sized hot tubs! If you get out of running the tap whilst you brush your teeth, then you will have cracked the most fundamental way of making your teeth routine eco-friendly.
Use a recyclable toothpaste brand
We each go through around 6 tubes of toothpaste each year and they all end up in the bin. If you consider that every person roughly goes through the same amount, then that’s at least over 300 million tubes that are sent to the landfill in the UK alone! There are loads of alternatives to non-recyclable toothpaste tubes on the market. We think the best are toothpastes that come in a jar or metal tin – not only can they be recycled after use, they can also be reused as containers to keep stuff in. Eco-friendly toothpaste is a great way to make your teeth planet-friendly!
Floss – free from plastic
For those that take their dental routine seriously, flossing is a vital part of having healthy teeth. However, this often comes at a cost to the environment as most floss is made from plastic, making it a single-use product destined for the bin. Luckily, there are now some great floss alternatives out there which are bio-degradable which means you can put them guilt-free into the bin or onto your compost! There’s loads of variety out there – so choose from your silk, cotton or bamboo options and make flossing free from plastic and friendly to the planet!
Use a recyclable brush
Everyone has a toothbrush and almost all of them are made from plastic. Most dentists advise that we change our brush approximately every four months, which means that the planet probably goes through billions of single use toothbrushes every year! This is such a simple thing to change about your dental health routine. There are countless companies that have clocked on to this huge ecological problem and invested into making recyclable bamboo toothbrushes which come in a number of shapes, colours and sizes. Make a clean start and get a recyclable toothbrush!
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