Why Choose Bamboo? 4 Bamboo Toothbrush Benefits

Whether you’re looking for a more sustainable, lower waste, or healthier option for your daily dental routine, there are a lot of bamboo toothbrush benefits! So, this post, proudly made in partnership with Eco Serein, breaks down the four major reasons to make the switch to brushing with bamboo.

First, though, let’s talk about the issues with conventional toothbrushes…

The Problem With Plastic Toothbrushes

Approximately one billion toothbrushes are thrown out each year in the US alone, National Geographic estimated. [1] Although toothbrushes were once made from all-natural materials, they began to be manufactured out of plastics about a hundred years ago.

Now one billion already sounds like a lot, but imagine this: if you laid out all of those toothbrushes end to end, they would wrap around planet Earth four times. [1] But that’s just one single year. Plastic takes up to 1,000 years to decompose, so every single plastic toothbrush ever made since the early 20th century is still around today.

If the thought (or visual picture) overwhelms you, you’re not alone.

Thankfully, though, there’s a better way. While we can’t give up brushing our teeth, we can return to producing toothbrushes out of natural materials like bamboo instead of synthetic materials derived from fossil fuels.

Bamboo Toothbrush Benefits

1. Less Waste

A circular economy and low waste lifestyle always start with the end in mind. Most products in today’s linear economy are made without consideration of their end-of-life. They have nowhere to go to be recycled, reused, or composted so they are thrown out after their time is up.

But, by choosing natural materials for our products, such as bamboo for our toothbrushes, we can help create a less wasteful system. The majority of the bamboo toothbrush is completely biodegradable, making it a logical choice for anyone wanting to move towards a low-waste home and personal-care routine!

2. Sustainably-Sourced

Bamboo is a rapidly renewable and self-regenerating plant. In fact, bamboo can grow over three feet (or one meter) per day! That’s 1,000 times as fast as oak and other hardwood trees grow.

Because of its fast growth rate (one of the fastest in the world, actually), bamboo can be harvested in 3 – 5 years, compared to trees that may take 10 – 30+ years or more before they can be harvested. [2]

Bamboo is also naturally pest resistant, meaning it doesn’t require any pesticides to grow. And, bamboo usually doesn’t require any fertilizers or herbicides either.

Okay, so bamboo is sustainable to grow, but does that mean it’s sustainable for us to harvest? It’s a natural question and of course, there are layers of considerations that must go into this. But, what’s fascinating about bamboo is that it does not die when harvested — the bamboo plant will actually grow a new shoot from its existing root system after harvesting.

3. Regenerative

Not only does growing bamboo typically have very little negative impact on the environment, but it can actually be net-positive!

Bamboo sequesters carbon from the atmosphere into soil and biomass very quickly. This makes the plant an important part of our journey towards reversing climate change.

Bamboo production is actually one of the solutions presented by Project Drawdown, the leading nonprofit organization for research on climate solutions. The organization has calculated that bamboo production can reduce / sequester approximately 8 – 22 gigatons of CO2 equivalent from 2020 to 2050! [3]

4. Aesthetically Pleasing

Alright, so this benefit is more of an opinion, but don’t bamboo toothbrushes just feel so much classier than their cheap-looking plastic counterparts?

I just love the aesthetics of a bamboo toothbrush in my eco-minded bathroom — it’s simple and classy. The natural appearance looks especially beautiful in a minimalist or neutral bathroom.

Where to Find Bamboo Toothbrushes: Meet Eco Serein

Now that we’ve broken down the many benefits of a bamboo toothbrush, where can you find a bamboo toothbrush?

Bamboo Toothbrush and Case from Eco Serein

Eco Serein has quality bamboo toothbrushes that come with a bamboo travel case (though there is also an option to purchase the toothbrush without a case if you don’t need one). Their bamboo toothbrushes come in plastic-free packaging to ensure

Most (96%) of the toothbrush is made from all-natural materials and the bristles are made from nylon. To compost the toothbrush, there are two options. You can either cut off the brush head of the toothbrush and put the handle in the compost bin or remove the bristles with a set of pliers and then compost the bristle-free brush!

Bamboo toothbrushes are a simple switch to get started on, or continue with, your low-waste lifestyle journey. There’s nothing new to learn, they don’t take up any additional time, and they are available at fairly low price points. They’re one of the first swaps I made and I haven’t looked back since!

Check out the bamboo toothbrush + bamboo traveling case from Eco Serein here.