There has been a lot of talk about teeth in the Hasek household recently. My son just got his braces on (for the second time) and he just had his remaining three baby teeth removed in one dentist visit. At age 11, he still believes in the tooth fairy (I think) so he kind of hit the jackpot that night with his tooth fairy trifecta.
I had teeth on my mind this past week thanks to the article I wrote about eco-friendlier toothbrushes. Most people, hoteliers included, don’t think much about the environmental impact of their toothbrushes, but it is not good. On one visit to a hotel, I forgot my toothbrush, went to the front desk, and was given a cheap plastic one—probably much like the ones you give to your guests when they forget their toothbrush. At the time I did not think much of it, but now I will never think the same about a single-use plastic toothbrush again.
According to National Geographic, toothbrush waste from the U.S. in just one year is enough to wrap around the earth four times. In another article I read 10 times. If Americans change their toothbrushes every three or four months, that is one billion toothbrushes on their way to the landfill or elsewhere, including our oceans. Toothbrushes are often found during beach cleanups. How do they get there?
Yes, plastic amenity bottles or plastic water bottles tend to come to mind first in conversations about single-use plastic waste in hotels, but toothbrushes deserve some attention as well.
Ultimate Resting Place: The Landfill
For my article I spoke with Saskia Coleman, CEO of Radius, and she told me that what is ironic about most attempts at eco-friendlier toothbrushes is they end up in landfills anyways and don’t biodegrade. Picture a waste management worker trying to pull toothbrushes off a conveyor belt at a waste separation facility. It is not going to happen.
What Radius has done is create a toothbrush with a replaceable head that you would not want to throw away. How might that work in a hotel environment? It requires some change in thinking and presentation. Given you would be paying more for that type of toothbrush—which can come with its own case if you choose—you would present it as more of a luxury item rather than a disposable one. You would need some messaging to go with it, perhaps on a sticker, to explain to the guest how to use it, why you are offering it, how to order replaceable heads, and how it is yet one more good thing you are doing to reduce single-use plastic waste.
There are a lot of toothbrushes out there that are an improvement to the single-use plastic version made mostly from fossil fuel. I mentioned some of them in my article. In the case of Radius, its toothbrushes are all made with recycled plastics, wood, and bamboo—even upcycled hemp. The handle and replaceable head include an additive to help them break down faster once they eventually reach the landfill.
What Radius and other companies are trying to do is disrupt the business model of making something cheap, so consumers have to keep replacing it. “They want you to buy another one,” Coleman told me. “They don’t think about sustainability.”
The next time you purchase toothbrushes or other similar single-use products for your guests, think extra hard about what you are doing. Consider the packaging for the products as well.
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