Just how much waste does one toothbrush create

As I unwrap a new toothbrush from its pack it begins to dawn on me just how much waste these things generate.

I am left with a plastic bubble, a cardboard back and of course the old toothbrush I am about to throw out.

Everyone knows that you should replace your toothbrush every three months. So just how many toothbrushes are heading for landfill every month? The UK population is over sixty-million people, that's a lot of toothbrushes.

How can they be reused and recycled?
The cardboard I can recycle, some toothbrushes I keep as little cleaning brushes, my son will use one or two to spatter paint onto his model tanks to make them look muddy but that still leaves an awful lots of lets face it plastic sticks being thrown away. I wonder if in the future archaeologists will claim our teeth must have been perfect because of all the brushing we did based on the numbers of toothbrushes they find in landfill.

There is a better way.

When you replace a toothbrush you are really just replacing the bristles. These are the only bits that are worn away. So what if you just bought that bit.

Electric toothbrushes have been doing this for years. When you replace the brush you only replace the brush head and stubby bit of arm.

Non-electric toothbrushes like the hyG Ionic Toothbrush follow the same principle you replace the brush head and about three centimetres of stick. I found this for sale here.

The Monte Bianco Toothbrush replaces just the very head of the brush and you can buy three heads for under three pounds. I found them for sale here.

And lastly the Terradent replaceable head brush. With this brush the only thing you replace is the bristle section, clipping it into the head of the brush. So even less waste all round. I cannot find a seller based in the UK but this will take you through to the manufacturer's website.

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