Zero Waste ToothBrushes - 10 Brands We Recommend

The average person will use about 300 toothbrushes in their lifetime. Brushing our teeth is an essential part of our daily hygiene. It keeps our teeth healthy and boosts our confidence. But while taking care of ourselves, it’s important to take care of the environment, too. So, using a zero-waste toothbrush is the best way to ensure that your oral hygiene is not putting the environment at risk.

Tips for choosing the right zero-waste toothbrush

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Before you check out our list of zero-waste toothbrush brands, here are some tips to guide you in finding the one that's just right for you.

Tip 1: toothbrushes with smaller heads can reach all areas of the mouth, including the back teeth, which are usually harder to get to. They're the best size for kids.

Tip 2: toothbrush handles come in unique designs to suit different people, so get one that fits comfortably in your hand. Without a good grip, you may injure your gums. If the store has samples out, test the grip. If you can't access samples, you may be able to get a feel by holding objects with a similar shape. 

Tip 3: make sure you are not allergic to any of the toothbrush materials. They make most zero-waste toothbrushes with bamboo and nylon bristles. Most people prefer nylon-6 because it is biodegradable, even though it may take a long time to decompose. Some brands, however, use hair from animals such as boar. 

NB: Some of these bamboo toothbrushes may have paint or chemical dyes on them as print or identification codes, usually in negligible amounts. But if you have any issues with that, toothbrush options exist with laser or handmade engraving instead of print.

10 Best Zero Waste Toothbrush Brands

Here is a list of the best zero-waste toothbrush brands to choose from. Below you will find some information on materials, ethics, and sustainability as well as a detailed description to help you make the right choice. 

Related: Your regular toothpaste comes in plastic, too. Check out our best picks of zero-waste toothpaste choices to complement your eco-friendly brush choice. You can also grab some eco-friendly zero-waste floss to complete your eco-dental routine.

1. Brush with Bamboo

”Brush

Brush with Bamboo manufactured the first plant-based bamboo toothbrushes. They make plant-based bristles using castor bean oil, which the USDA certifies as 100% bio-based. 

They make Brush with Bamboo products in the EU. The product comes in an individual pack made entirely of paper with no tape or glue. The Brush with Bamboo pack is fully compostable. Brush with Bamboo advises customers to rinse their zero-waste bamboo toothbrushes thoroughly before and after use. 

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2. Enviro Bamboo

Enviro Bamboo Zero Waste Toothbrush

This bamboo toothbrush is designed especially for children from ages 3-7. The nylon bristles are soft and contain no BPA, and it is excellent for a child’s delicate gums. The toothbrush comes in four colors.

They recommend storage in a dry and airy place, and if you decide to use a holder, use an open-air holder. The pack has no plastic and is glue-free; it is suitable for compost.  However, the bristles must be removed before you use the handle for compost. The company says the extracted bristles are not waste as they can recycle them. This product also has cruelty-free and FSC certifications to prove its ethicality. 

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3. Greenzla

”Greenzla”

This 4-pack toothbrush kit comes with a bamboo travel case. The travel case has holes at the top and bottom to allow unrestricted airflow, so there's no odor or molding. It can only hold one brush at a time. The other item in the kit is a jar of activated charcoal and mint-infused bamboo fiber dental floss. The jar has a cutter at the top that makes getting out the floss stress-free.

To make sure you can distinguish the brushes, they mark them with a unique number of leaf symbols. The bamboo charcoal fiber bristle is soft and has no BPA.

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4. To Jungle

To Jungle Zero Waste Toothbrush

This brush comes in individual Kraft paper packages, perfect for travel or if you are trying out a bamboo toothbrush for the first time. The brush head bristles are made of BPA-free nylon and have a slightly wavy surface. They color-code the product to signify bristle hardness. The black and white brush has medium hardness, while the grey brush is soft.

You can use and store the toothbrush the same way you use the plastic kind. Since the color of bamboo is always the same, they color the lower part of the toothbrush. This helps with identification if the entire family uses the product.

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5. Vida Natural UK

This toothbrush is one item in Vida Natural’s eco bathroom kit. The kit contains one grapefruit soap bar, a wooden soap rack, a sisal soap pouch, bamboo cotton buds, a bottle of bamboo charcoal dental floss, and one bamboo toothbrush. 

Vida makes everything in the kit using natural ingredients, which is sustainable, and is vegan-friendly. They make toothbrushes for kids and adults and have a variety of colors you can choose from. They package the kit in recycled paper. If you are ready to make your bathroom routine zero waste, this product provides you with a starter pack.

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6. Dante Smile

Dante smile zero waste toothbrush

Inspired by rainbows, this brand tries to inspire happiness with its rainbow-colored bristles. They make soft, BPA-free bristles from Dupont nylon. They make bamboo toothbrushes for adults and kids, too. The toothbrushes come in individual packs with detailed recycling instructions written on the back.

The handle is made from Moso bamboo and is both reusable and compostable. You will need to take out the bristles before you can compost these bamboo brushes or use them as a gardening tool. The wooden handle is moisture-resistant, so you can use and store your rainbow brush the same way you would its plastic counterpart.

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7. Honua Living

Honua living zero waste toothbrushes

Are you thinking of giving someone zero-waste toothbrushes as a gift? This brand makes it easier by packing its product in a cardboard box wrapped beautifully with a bow. Despite the fancy appearance, the packaging does not contain any plastic and is reusable. There are six completely identical pieces in each box. You have the option of choosing soft or medium bristles. The handle, wrapper, and box are biodegradable.

The company donates 5% of the proceeds on every order to support tree planting all around the globe. 

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8. The Humble Co.

”The

Dentists developed the products for this Swedish toothbrush company. It has BPA-free bristles made from nylon-6 and a slightly indented curved bamboo handle. The brand has products for adults and children. There are five toothbrushes in each colorful pack.

The toothbrushes do not have numbers but have different bristle colors for easy identification. They make the packs from recycled materials; it is FSC certified and is 100% compostable. They also say that their product is 100% biodegradable, bristles and all. The company uses a portion of its proceeds to support oral care outreach programs all over the world.

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9. Native Birds

”Native

This company assures you that their toothbrush is 99% biodegradable. They use recycled material to pack their products. The nylon bristles are infused with charcoal; they are soft and contain no BPA. The Moso bamboo handle is round and smooth.

Each pack has four pieces in it, and each has a different color on the handle to help you distinguish one from the other. The paint also helps to prevent mold from growing on the toothbrush.  The company says you can remove and recycle its toothbrush bristles. They also have toothbrushes for kids aged 2-7. The products are made in China, so you might want to consider the carbon cost it will take to get to you.

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10. Gaia guy

Bamboo and boar zero waste toothbrushes

This entire toothbrush is plastic-free. It has its bristles made from boar hair, sourced from a special breed. They boil the hair to make it clean and straight. The bristles are less abrasive than nylon but equally firm. With wooden handles, the toothbrush is entirely plastic-free and fully compostable.

This Gaia guy boar bristle toothbrush is not vegan since it uses an animal product, but it is sustainable as the materials are renewable. The paperboard tube container is plastic-free. There are six pieces in each pack, and there's no numbering or color-coding to distinguish them from one another. So, if you intend to buy Gaia guy toothbrushes for the entire family, you'll need to make permanent marks for easy identification.

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How the toothbrush came to be

If you walk into a store to buy a toothbrush and find something made of bones and pig hair, you'll most likely find it shocking. But the first real toothbrushes looked exactly like that. The Chinese Emperor Hongzhi designed the first bristle toothbrush. He made the toothbrush handle from bone or wood and used pig hair as bristles. Before this invention, both the rich and poor - even the Buddha used chewing sticks to brush their teeth.

Europeans took the idea of bristle toothbrushes and made their version, using horsehair or feathers instead of boar hair. William Addis designed the toothbrush that modern designs were now modeled on in 1780. He carved the handle out of cattle bone and made the brush part with boar hair. 

Toothbrushes used to be a luxury item that only the very wealthy could afford. This was because the materials used to make them were fancy and expensive. In the early 1920s, only 1 out of every four persons owned toothbrushes in the United States. Everyone else had to use chew sticks, their fingers, or pieces of cloth. 

It wasn’t until the early 20th century that manufacturers began using nylon and other plastics to make toothbrushes. The 1930s marked the beginning of toothbrushes as we know them. Using nylon in toothbrush production started in 1938. The plastic toothbrushes were cheap, and almost everybody could then own one. However, it was not until the end of World War II that they became universally popular in the United States. When the soldiers who had learned to observe dental hygiene religiously returned home, they influenced the surrounding people.

Today, we have both manual and electric toothbrushes in different shapes, sizes, and textures for adults and children. Typically, they make the handles with plastic and the bristles with nylon. A study shows that people would rather live without cars or cell phones than give up using a toothbrush. Our toothbrush is important to us, and it's time to choose a sustainable way for our future use.

Does a zero-waste toothbrush do any good?

You probably use 3 or 4 toothbrushes a year; it seems inconsequential, right? Actually, your toothbrushes have a substantial environmental impact. Beach cleaners collect 20-100 toothbrushes on Hawaii beaches per session, and if we looked hard enough, we could find every plastic toothbrush ever made since the 1930s. This is because plastic is not biodegradable; it may disintegrate but will not decompose.

Since the average person uses 300 toothbrushes in their lifetime, billions of toothbrushes end up in landfills and the oceans every year. Here are some reasons to switch to a zero-waste toothbrush:-

Plastic pollution

This is a serious environmental issue that affects humans and wildlife. Plastic lasts for hundreds of years, polluting ocean waters and endangering our health. Millions of animals, including birds and fish, are killed by swallowing or getting entangled with plastic every year. Toxic microplastics find their way into the bodies of fish and from there to the human body.

If everyone followed the advice of the FDA to change their toothbrush once every three or four months, we would have around 23 billion plastic toothbrushes discarded toothbrushes each year.

Note that if you use an electric toothbrush with replaceable heads, you'll also minimize plastic waste. However, most of the major brands still use plastic heads, so whereas there is less plastic in a head that lasts longer, you'll still find a good reason to switch to a zero-waste dental routine. Whereas out of the scope of this article, you'll also find eco-friendly electric toothbrush choices on the market, with recycled heads and silicone alternatives to plastic.

Recycling problems

One problem with plastic toothbrushes is that they are unrecyclable. They make them with composite plastic that is extremely difficult to break apart, and the small parts just get stuck in the recycling machines.

On the other hand, we can easily separate zero-waste toothbrushes to recycle or upcycle them. And because many are made from non-fossil fuel plant-based materials, the ultimate result is a biodegradable toothbrush better for the planet.

Sustainability

Zero-waste toothbrushes are eco-friendly, ethical, and sustainable. They make a high percentage of the sustainable toothbrushes we've featured from sustainable bamboo, which is a fast-growing plant. Many companies prefer to use Moso Bamboo, a variety not eaten by pandas, which grows faster than others.

Another source of material for these eco-friendly toothbrushes is the castor bean. Here they use oil from the castor bean to produce a kind of nylon for soft bristles — nylon-6, which is biodegradable. You’ll also find boar hair used for bristles, and it is biodegradable and sustainable too.

Eco-friendly production

Often, brands make zero-waste toothbrushes by hand. Even when we manufacture them in large factories, the process doesn't negatively impact plastic production. 

Conclusion

We do not have a planet B, so it is essential to care for this one home of ours. If your toothbrush can affect the health of the environment so profoundly, then you can make a difference. Plastic, no matter how small, can keep polluting the environment for hundreds of years. Switching to a zero-waste, eco-friendly toothbrush is a minor change that could make a big difference to the state of the planet.

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