Recycling, packaging and waste
Recycling plan gives new life to used toothbrushes
Green Ideas editorial team
It might sound strange but clean teeth just got a whole lot greener with the launch yesterday [1 October 2014] of a new initiative to recycle oral care waste.
The ‘Colgate Oral Care Brigade’, a partnership between the oral care brand and international upcycling and an recycling company, TerraCycle, lets people simply pop their old toothbrushes and empty toothpaste tubes in the post to be recycled.
By registering on the TerraCycle New Zealand website to become a waste collector people can download a free shipping label and post their oral care waste away to be recycled into useful products such as watering cans, plant pots and reusable shopping bags.
The national recycling programme will divert previously unrecyclable waste, such as used toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and caps, floss containers, and packaging, from landfill.
According to its website, TerraCycle works with over 100 major brands around the world to collect difficult to recycle packaging and products to be repurposed into new, innovative materials and products that is sell online and through major retailers.
In New Zealand, TerraCycle already works to recycle lolly wrappers via the ‘Confectionery Wrapper Brigade’ and coffee capsules via the ‘Nescafe Dolce Gusto Capsule Brigade’.
Not only does the planet benefit but schools and charities can too. People collecting waste and sending it off are credited points which are worth $0.02 each to go towards the school or non-profit organisation of your choice.