This article is going to be short and sweet. No beating around the bush here.
I’m going to answer a couple questions about traditional electric toothbrushes, then get to the nitty gritty and talk about more environmentally friendly electric toothbrush options.
Are electric toothbrushes environmentally friendly?
No, they are not. Electric toothbrushes are not recyclable so every time you replace the head or handle, they end up in the trash and ultimately in the landfill.
How do you dispose of an electric toothbrush?
Unfortunately, you have to throw them out in the trash.
Environmentally Friendly Options
As you can tell by the title, there are two main environmentally friendly toothbrushes to choose from.
Georganics
When it comes to ecofriendly electric toothbrush heads, Georganics is about as eco-friendly as it gets.
Features:
- Utilizes sonic technology
- Packaged in plastic-free cardboard box
- Zero to Landfill recycling plan
- Simply send your used toothbrush heads (at least 10 at a time) back to Georganics in the mail for FREE, where they are recycled, keeping them out of the landfill
- You can also send the handle back using this program when its lifespan has elapsed
Issa electric toothbrush
This is a really cool environmentally friendly electric toothbrush. First of all, I love the sleek look of it. Never thought I’d comment about how cool a toothbrush looks, but here I am.
Features:
- A single charge lasts 365 days
- Utilizes sonic pulse technology
- Head needs to be replaced just once a year
One downside, it is made from silicone which is petroleum-free, but the jury is still out on the safety-ness of it.
So there you have it. The two best ecofriendly toothbrushes of 2020. Click on the links to do a little more digging for yourself but ultimately the choice is yours on how you keep your teeth pearly white.
Do you currently use an electric toothbrush? I still keep it simple with bamboo. Let me know how you keep your teeth clean in the comments below.
Cheers, and have an awesome day!
A bit concerned that you say “you have to throw them in the trash”. My Oral-B has an MI-NH recycling symbol, and a ‘Do Not Dispose Of In Bin’ symbol, on the side.
So I think you are misleading people with that statement.
However, I will look into your suggestions, thanks.
Thanks for your comment, James. I didn’t realize you could recycle electric toothbrush heads. Are you able to recycle them at the roadside or do you have to take them to a facility yourself? If you could give me a bit more information, I will gladly update this article. Thanks!
James is talking about the rechargeable battery inside most electric toothbrush handles. Depending where you live these can be taken to recycling centres or those shops that collect batteries for recycling/safe disposal when the battery comes to the end of it’s life (usually after hundreds of charges).
There are now several brands that sell heads that can be returned to the company for recycling (probably by a company like Terracycle). Here in the UK at present there is a Terracycle program https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/colgate-uk funded by Colgate for recycling all plastic oral care waste – there are collection points in schools, etc across the country.
Thanks for providing this valuable information! I really appreciate it.
In the UK all local council recycling ♻️ centre handle WEEE electrical recycling. Anything such as refrigerated goods, tvs computer have to be recycled by law in the UK. Generally it’s frowned upon not to recycle anything in the UK unless its totally unrecoverable. Mattresses are a good example.
That’s great that the UK has such a robust recycling system. More countries should emulate their methodology. Thanks for your comment!
Oral B offers a recycling program for dental products. Send in all your used oral care products and packaging, no matter the brand. This including toothbrushes, brush heads, toothpaste tubes, mouthwash containers, floss containers, floss string, and floss picks
https://recycling.oralb.com
Thank-you for bringing this to our attention. That’s great of Oral B to initiate a recycling program for dental products! I appreciate you keeping us informed.
As a consumer, I was hoping to see that Oral B offered a batery replacement service. I appreciate that this can not be done by the consumer. There is no mention of a recycling service here in the UK and the recommendation is to take the toothbrush to a local recycling centre. For reasons given above in this is less than satisfactory. I am disappointed that so long after the development of these small appliances that a battery replacement service by post is not available.
What about SURI? It’s definitely leading the pack imo… (trysuri.com).
I know this article was posted a couple years ago but could you maybe do an update where you now list the electric toothbrushes that ARE more sustainable? So the people who don’t notice the published date don’t get discouraged. So far I only know about Bambooi electric toothbrush and the Sustainable Tomorrow electric tooth brush.