Here at Seed & Sprout we are constantly searching for alternative production methods for your everyday products. We consciously seek out and source materials that do less harm and more good to our people and planet, whether it’s for your lunchbox, drink bottle or your toothbrush!
Did you know that 84% of plastic in Australia is sent to landfill and only 13% is recycled?¹ Plastic toothbrushes are very rarely recycled in Australia meaning that it’s likely every toothbrush you’ve thrown away is still out there. If you haven’t made the switch to an environmentally friendly toothbrush yet, what are you waiting for?
We've recently redesigned and reimagined our Eco Bamboo Toothbrush to make it better than ever, so we thought we’d take a moment to tell you more about the materials used and why we chose them.
Our new Eco Toothbrush has plant based bristles made from the oil of the Castor Bean plant. We’ve chosen to switch our bristles to this material that has a smaller carbon footprint and isn’t created using crude oil. Castor Oil plants are grown in poor soil conditions which are not suitable for growing food, hence not competing for land that could be used for food production. These plant based bristles will break down without leaving any micro plastics behind.
The bristles are 100% derived from plants, and while there's still a process involved to convert them from castor bean oil to toothbrush bristles, they are made from the most environmentally friendly material currently available.
We would LOVE nothing more than to find a solution that is 100% home compostable, but after extensive research we’ve come to the conclusion that the only solution would be animal hair (yuk). As always we will continue our research so that one day we can achieve our overarching goal to create the most environmentally friendly toothbrush. In the meantime we’ll all be switching to a compostable bamboo handle with plant based bristles!
Reference 1
Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-plastics-plan-summay-fs.pdf
