Eco Friendly Toothbrush A Low-Waste Option

by Texas Homesteader ~
*contains affiliate link

Low-Waste Toothbrush Option: A Snap toothbrush can lower your plastic toothbrush waste by 93%! Replace only the worn heads and reuse the handle over & over again.

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)

As hard as I try to eliminate waste, there are some places where I just sigh & accept that plastic landfill-bound trash is just a part of my life. Like our toothbrushes for instance.

Then I heard about a more traditionally-styled eco friendly toothbrush where you only replace the small brush head & reuse the handle. Now color me intrigued!

Other Eco-Friendly Toothbrush Options

To eliminate the revolving trash of replacing my worn toothbrushes over & over, I first tried bamboo toothbrushes. I loved the concept of compostability, and was willing to power through a different experience for this lower-waste option.

But I had some issues with the bristles coming out in my mouth. And more importantly I just could never get used to the feel of bamboo in my mouth.

Plus since it had nylon bristles, the toothbrush head portion wasn’t compostable.

So that meant at the end of the toothbrush’s life I either had to snap off the head and throw it away, or soak & pull the bristles out with a pair of pliers and throw them in the trash before composting the rest.

Ugh… So with a sigh I went back to traditional plastic toothbrushes sold in a big plastic package. Eco-fail?

Not to be deterred I went looking for a better solution for us.

Toothbrush With Reusable Handle

Now although these toothbrushes were sent at no cost to me to try out & review, please remember that my words will be my own. I’ll share the real story with y’all, no fluffy obligatory stuff from me, oh no!

Enter the Snap Toothbrush. The handles are contoured and have grips on them too. Unlike the bamboo toothbrush, the Snap toothbrush is much more like the traditional toothbrushes I’m already used to.

The material is the same as my standard toothbrush and the handle & bristles are contoured too. This should make for an easier transition to a new tooth-brushing experience than what I endured using bamboo toothbrushes.

The replaceable heads snap in easily, and when I’m ready to replace them they snap out.

Yes there’s still something to throw away when the bristles wear & need to be replaced. But I’m not tossing the whole toothbrush – just the tiny head.

This step alone will reduce my toothbrush landfill-bound trash by a whopping 93%! Oh yeah, this may very well be the toothbrush solution I’ve been looking for.

So I reached out to Roberto Rivera, owner of GreenerStep. I asked if he would send a couple of their Snap Toothbrushes for me to try in exchange for my honest, open review of the pros & cons of his product. As you can imagine, the crunchy-green enviro-girl in me was thrilled when he said yes.

Biodegradable Wrapping

When the toothbrushes arrived I saw a note on the packaging stating their plastic wrappers were 100% biodegradable.

I asked Mr. Rivera about this & he said:

“Our bags are treated with an additive that enables plastic bag to biodegrade in landfills faster. Also, since we are using a standard plastic the bags can also be recycled. Ideally, we would love eliminate packaging because it is so wasteful, but that is just not an option, so we went with what we thought was a good compromise when it came to the bags. The other thing we’ve done with packaging is to launch multi-pack that are designed to cram cram as many brush heads as possible in a very small space. For example, we sell a 12 pack that is roughly the size of a toothpaste carton but it contains 2 complete toothbrushes and 10 extra brush heads.”

Of course I’d much prefer paper or cardboard wrappings that I could just toss into my composter. But at least the plastic they’re using should degrade. I’ll do some research to see what this actually means for the environment but I love the theory.

To test the biodegradability of the packing I’ve dug a hole and put the wrapper into the ground. I left it for several weeks and when I went to dig it up I could not find any remnants.

I’m still not convinced that biodegradable plastic is the answer. I’d much rather the toothbrushes be sold in paper. But…

Eco Friendly Toothbrush Design

The handle on the Snap toothbrush is much like any traditional toothbrush, complete with a contoured brush head & contoured handle with easy-to-hold grippers.

The small soft-bristle head snaps easily into the handle but won’t come out until you manually remove it.

In comparing, the ‘footprint’ of the Snap Toothbrush is slightly larger than my old toothbrush. Although I did notice the small size difference as I brushed with the Snap toothbrush the first time, it was a minor difference & took very little time for it to become second nature.

Pros & Cons

Here is a list of what I consider to be pros & cons about the Snap Toothbrush

PROS:

Special design means you’re replacing only the head as it wears out – NOT the whole toothbrush. That’s a 93% reduction in plastic waste over a standard toothbrush
Snap toothbrushes are BPA free
The bristles are shaped to get around teeth easier for a good cleaning experience
The handle is contoured with easy-to-hold grippers
Greener Step has offered a 15% discount to our readers. WOO-HOO!
As of this writing, a Snap toothbrush costs only $2 (even lower with bulk orders & 15% discount!)
Wrapper is advertised to be both biodegradable and recyclable
Snap Toothbrush is made of material I’m already used to with a standard toothbrush
GreenerStep is an environmentally-aware company, pushing for lower & lower waste for their products & packaging

CONS:

Although the packing is both recyclable & biodegradable, I’d prefer the toothbrush be sold in simple compostable paper or cardboard
The ‘footprint’ of the replaceable head is slightly larger than my standard toothbrush
These toothbrushes are made in China. As an American I’d love for them to be made here.

What Did We Think?

I will say this in full honesty – I’m absolutely LOVING this toothbrush! It’s all RancherMan & I use.

Unlike my bamboo toothbrush experience, I feel much more comfortable using this Snap toothbrush. It has the same feel of the traditional toothbrushes I’m already used to.

And since I’m only replacing the bristle head, this will be a very eco-friendly toothbrush swap from my standard throw-away toothbrushes.

I love that this Snap toothbrush lowers my toothbrush waste by 93%!

Enviro-WIN!

Special Discount Offered To Our Readers!

For a limited time, Mr. Rivera has offered YOU, my dear readers, a 15% discount to try ’em for yourselves! Just go to the SNAP Toothbrush Discount Page, place your order and enter the code SnapFan and they’ll pull 15% off your order. (Link above supplied by Mr. Rivera since he tells me their discount page is different than their main website’s URL)

(Note: You can often find Snap Toothbrushes on Amazon!)

We LOVE These Toothbrushes!

So after my initial trial use I immediately bought about 20 replacement heads from GreenerStep so I’ll have ’em ready as it’s time to replace them one-by-one. I figure hey, there’s a 15% discount and it’s got to be easier to ship many heads at one time.

Plus since the environment is my drive in the first place, there will be less shipping waste with a bulk order than sending several smaller orders to my door.

My recommendation? If, like me, you’re frustrated with plastic trash that you feel you have no control over when it comes to your toothbrush – go, go, GO NOW to GreenerStep and see for yourself. I’m sure you’ll love this eco friendly toothbrush as much as we do!

Tell ’em Texas Homesteader sent ya.

2022 Update:

I recently ordered more SNAP toothbrush heads and was extremely disappointed to find them delivered in this big, honkin’ piece of plastic.

I contacted Mr. Rivera and voiced my concern that shipping the replacment heads in this huge square of plastic flies in the face of their plastic reduction business model of their toothbrushes. I asked if they were considering other more eco-friendly options instead. Mr. Rivera was very forthcoming and honest when he replied:

Thanks for sharing your concerns about our plastic packaging. We are in the process of developing new packaging alternatives that use natural fibers. Unfortunately, current levels of demand have been pretty slow so we are still working through older inventory that utilizes the old packaging. We recognize that we can do better so our goal is that in a year or two all of our packaging will be made 100% out of natural fibers. Our focus originally was on the toothbrush design itself and we made some compromises and less than optimal decisions on the packaging side that we later regretted. We have learned from this and thanks to feedback from customers like you will be correcting this in the future.

Best, Roberto

I certainly hope they find a better alternative for packaging their toothbrush head replacements soon! I’ll keep you informed as I learn more.

~TxH~

This post categorized in

Zero-Waste Health & Beauty

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12 thoughts on “Eco Friendly Toothbrush With Reusable Handle”

Liz at

A brilliant and idea and i heard about these toothbrushes first here. These are not available in the UK and if they were, I would possibly give them a go, because of knowing that it is only the head I am replacing, instead of the whole brush.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Ya know Liz, I did try the bamboo ones first but I just could never get used to the uncomfortable feeling of bamboo in my mouth. And although not too terribly badly, the bristles came out in my mouth and I. Hate. THAT! Plus the bristles weren’t compostable anyway so there was that to deal with. I must admit I’m over-the-top thrilled with this toothbrush. Much less waste since you’re only throwing out the part that actually wears out and using the handle over & over again. And more like the traditional toothbrushing experience I was used to. No turning back for us! ~TxH~
  
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Donald Hickerson at

I like the toothbrush idea. Now what do we do with fiberfill pillows? No matter what craft or secondary
use that can be found they ultimately wind uo in the landfill and NEVER decompose. I have 7 waiting to decide what to do with. I can’t find any place to recycle them even on the internet. Jan

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  I love these toothbrushes, Jan. And although GreenerStep sent me a couple to try a no cost to me I’m not on any affiliate program with them or earn commission or anything, just sharing my thoughts – I truly love these toothbrushes that much. And I’m thrilled with the waste reduction percentage of 93% over standard toothbrushes! Used pillows are another problem completely. RancherMan & I are firmly in the wash-n-reuse pillows category for a couple of years but some people aren’t comfortable with washing them or using them that long. I’ve heard that older (clean) pillows can be donated to animal shelters for their dogs & cats so you might check there. One reader mentioned that she washed the pillow and cut it open, using the fiber-fill for decorative throw pillows & such. Maybe one of our other readers will have some ideas??
  
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Sue at

The mom/nana in me feels the need to say the (these days necessary) “small parts” warning. Keep the spare heads out of reach of little ones.
Ordering myself a set … I live in an apartment complex with limited recycling. These will help reduce my now citified existence. ❤

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  A good reminder for all small parts in our home, Sue – thanks for the reminder. And I know you’re gonna love these toothbrushes as much as I do. Going into this experiment I was really hopeful that I would like it (especially since my previous bamboo toothbrush experiment was disappointing) but I’ve gotta say I’m thrilled with these!
  
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candace at

Hi All,
Since I have had significant tooth issues with root and bone erosion all of my life and see the dental hygienist on the regular. I have tried a wide variety of things but was told about and have used now for many years the Sonicare toothbrush I find it helps keep all that down to a dull roar rather than expecting all my teeth to just fall out at some point. The theory is that the bacteria that lurk under the gums hate the vibration and it breaks up their “colonies” thus making it harder for them to damage important tooth stuff. You are actually kind of massaging the gum with this brush. Also just an aside from tooth brushes DENTAL floss – ugg – another thing the hygienist taught me was that flossing should not be just that up and down activity but that you go side to side, kind of wrapping one side of the tooth right at the gum line with the floss – also disturbing the nasty little goobers lurking there. In any event I think I have a lifetime supply of old toothbrushes for cleaning jewelry, the sink edges around faucets and all manner of stuff. The toothbrushes that I come home with several times a year from the dentist go to organizations that provide such stuff to the needy and homeless. I expect they end up in the trash eventually, but one does what one can.
On another note – the smaller two overhead doors are installed on/in the barn. Builder son needs to get a beefier piece of equipment to install the 2 big ones.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  I’ve run into the same ‘old toothbrushes used for cleaning & in the shop’ but dang, there are only so many cleaning toothbrushes a household can use! I’ll be saving my new dentist toothbrushes and passing them along too for those who need one, but I’m thinking about bringing up the Snap toothbrush thing with my dentist to offer to all his patients. And how exciting about your overhead doors. Almost there!
  
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Lisa Miller at

Great Idea! I just placed an order for me and to put one in my daughter’s Easter basket. She is grown and we are always looking for small things to put in the basket that aren’t always candy. I was using one that would let you send toothbrushes back to be recycled postage free, but they stopped the program. I guess it just cost too much. I hate for them to end up in the landfill and our county only recycles certain things.

Any thoughts on what to do with the bags that onions come in or avocados? Other than not buying them in the mesh? We do a lot of shopping at BJ’s and not being in the mesh is not an option. The plastic ones make good scrubbers to wash out the chicken waterers, but not sure what to do with the stringy bags from the avocados. All I can see is some bird or turtle tangled up in them, so they are just sitting in a bag waiting for a good idea!

Thanks for being on the same page. Saving the world one toothbrush at a time!

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  Love that Lisa! I think you’ll both love ’em. Like I said, I was so convinced that I immediately went on & ordered replacement heads for well into the future. I love them that much! Other replaceable head toothbrushes replaced the whole top of the toothbrush – this is the only one I found where only the brush head was replaced.
  
  I don’t know what to offer about the mesh bags. I do cut them into rings & hand-crochet them into dish scrubbies and a large one for gettin’ down with cleaning the floor. But once you get enough of them… I’ve seen some who use them to store toys from the tub so they can be corralled but still dry. Maybe another reader will have more ideas? ~TxH~
  
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Nancy at

Very interesting……hopefully if they don’t have kids size now, they will in the future.

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1. Texas Homesteader Post author at
  
  OMGosh Nancy, I was hoping I’d love this option since the bamboo experience sorta fell flat for me. And I DO! I’ve already ordered bulk replacement heads to have ’em at the ready.
  
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