Plastic Toothbrushes & The Pollution That Comes With It
Plastic pollution is a common phenomenon that somehow eludes our attention when it shouldn’t. Because as we speak, there are over 8 million pieces of plastic that are being dumped into our oceans from around the world. Due to this, over 100,000 marine mammals and a million sea birds are killed off annually.
As a matter of fact, even our toothbrushes, which are made of plastic, have a hand in harming the environment. By now, you probably think we’re getting full of ourselves, so we scrounged up the following stats from credible sources to show you just how serious we are:
Plastic Toothbrushes are Made of Harmful Chemicals
First of all, plastic toothbrushes are made from a mix of plastic materials that combine elements of rubber, crude oil as well as some extra plastic and cardboard that goes into their packaging. If you thought that was bad enough, the manufacturing process for these toothbrushes consist of dangerous plastic by-products, crude oil and petroleum. Yes, plastic toothbrush waste THAT bad!
Electric Toothbrushes Leak Out Toxins
That’s right! Electric toothbrushes are in fact made of plastic and rubber. If the batteries that power these little fellas aren’t disposed of properly, they can potentially cause harm to the environment. It might surprise you if you don’t about it already, but rechargeable batteries have this problem as well.
Overtime, these batteries leak out acid that can get cause harm to oceans, wildlife and the environment when they’re discarded into landfills.
North America Wastes Over 1 Billion Toothbrushes
No, your eyes aren’t playing any tricks on you because the title is accurate according to Foreo. That many toothbrushes end up in landfills and are enough to stretch around the earth 4 times. And this is just North America; imagine how many other countries are discarding – the impact would be catastrophic. The clean-up costs just from that are beyond conceivable.
They Drain Oil Supplies
Developing plastic toothbrushes uses plenty of oil resources. And because oil itself is non-renewable, it prompts the development of oil wells, which in turn harms plenty of ecosystems and ruins a lot of habitats. And all so that eventually, plastic toothbrushes are thrown away into landfills. A disastrous cycle indeed!
They Pollute Oceans
Plastic toothbrushes end up getting washed away into the ocean, effectively endangering marine life. This presents a danger for people who consume fishes because the plastic gets crushed into smaller pieces which are then consumed by fishes as a result. So they contaminate both the ocean and our food.
They Can’t be Burnt for Fuel
It is hard to burn plastic and when they do get burnt, they end up releasing more hazardous chemicals. Plus, the smell of burnt plastic is so potently irritating that it forces one to leave the area where it’s being burned or find a gas mask.
Final Thoughts
So now you see what plastic toothbrush waste does to our beautiful and grieving planet? Don’t take this the wrong way, but you may want to consider cleaning your teeth with a natural substitute such as those made from bamboo.
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