Have you had your electric toothbrush for a little too long, and you don’t know what to do with it? There are a few options and here we are going to tell you those!
Recycle an electric toothbrush by dismantling the toothbrush, removing the battery, and taking it to a drop-off center. Put the metal and plastic parts in the correct recycling container if the local recycling center accepts them. Take the charger to a local electronic waste collection.
If you want to recycle your electric toothbrush but don’t know how, we can tell you! Read more below to find out how.
Take Apart Your Toothbrush
To recycle your electric toothbrush, first, you have to take it apart so that you can sort all of the pieces. Find a flathead screwdriver, and use it to take apart the pieces of the toothbrush’s body. Once you have gotten all of the pieces apart, sort them into the battery, metal, plastic, and charging cord.
Battery
You now have the battery separated from the rest of the toothbrush. This means you can now take it to a drop-off location. The battery is not recyclable because it has certain chemicals that would make be toxic just sitting in the landfill.
There are multiple battery collection locations. Some include Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy, Office Depot, and Staples. Call around your city and find the closest battery drop-off spot near you. Take it inside to them, and they will dispose of the battery for you.
Plastic and Metal Parts
When you took the toothbrush apart, you separated the plastic and metal parts. This allows you to now bring those pieces to a local recycling center. Call around to recycling centers near you and make sure they accept those pieces before you take it to them. If they do, take the pieces to the recycling center, and put the metal and plastic pieces in the correct bins. There should be two separate bins for plastic vs. metal.
Doing this will help our environment stay clean and our landfills stay clear of these materials.
Charging Cord
Not sure what to do with the charging cord for your toothbrush, well the charging cord can be recycled too! First, you should contact your toothbrush’s manufacturer and see if they have any send-back options. Sometimes companies have options where you can mail back parts of the toothbrush and they will recycle them for you.
If your toothbrush manufacturer does not allow you to send back the toothbrush cord, you should then take it to a local electronic waste collection location where they will collect and reuse the toothbrush cord.
Doing this is easy and fast and can help our environment in big ways!
Send-back
Above we mentioned manufacturer send back options, and here we have one that might be great for you! Oral-B has an amazing program where they allow you to ship back all the contents of your electric toothbrush to them, and they recycle them for you.
All you have to do is get a shipping box and put your toothbrush contents inside. Next, you seal it up and download one of their free shipping labels. Last, you ship the box from a local shipping center to their processing facility. Oral-B make this program so that consumers could easily enjoy their products, and recycle them once they are done.
This is probably the best option for you if you do not want to deal with the hassle of taking your toothbrush apart and bringing the pieces to different locations. Oral-B is just one of the examples, and if you don’t use their toothbrushes, contact your manufacturer and see if they have a similar program.
Environmentally Friendly Toothbrushes
We go through toothbrushes very quickly in life, because we have to replace them so frequently. Once your current toothbrush has reached its limit, consider buying an eco-friendly toothbrush that would be better for our environment and landfills. Here are some great options for you!
Amazon’s Biodegradable Bamboo Toothbrush $6.49
Amazon has a wonderful, biodegradable toothbrush that is made of bamboo. The toothbrush has BPA Nylon Free Bristles, a recyclable package, and a biodegradable handle which makes this toothbrush completely eco-friendly. They even come in a 10-pack and are labeled with different letters A-E to make it easy to tell you and your family’s toothbrushes apart.
This toothbrush is great if you want to decrease the amount of plastic in your home and in our environment!
Bite’s Bamboo Toothbrush $12
This company has made a plant-based, Moso bamboo toothbrush that is great if you want to ditch plastic toothbrushes. They use less packaging which is very eco-friendly. It is better for your teeth and the environment! Consider purchasing Bite’s bamboo toothbrush today!
Sustainable Tomorrow’s Bamboo Electric Toothbrush $89.95
Still want an electric toothbrush but are not sure where you can find an eco-friendly one? Sustainable tomorrow sells a plant-based electric toothbrush that fits all your eco-friendly needs! It is made out of bamboo and has plant-based bristles. This toothbrush can be disposed of by placing it in a compost bin and will decompose in about 6 months.
My favorite part about this toothbrush is that it has five different cleaning modes. It has a cleaning mode, a whitening mode, a polishing mode, a sensitive mode, and a gum care mode. This is perfect for everyone! Not only is the toothbrush eco-friendly and great for the environment, but it’s also great for your teeth!
Why Recycle Your Electric Toothbrushes
Remember to always recycle your electric toothbrushes. Why? Because if you don’t, they will continue to fill up our landfills and fill our world with toxins. It is important to always recycle because when we don’t we destroy our natural habitats and wildlife, fill our air with toxic chemicals, and deteriorate our world. Recycling may seem like a hassle, but take a few extra steps and a few extra minutes to recycle your electric toothbrushes. You are helping to make our world a better place!
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