Crest and Oral-B are now offering Recycle On Us, a free and easy program to recycle used oral care waste. Most municipal waste treatment centers do not accept toothbrushes and other oral care items, so the Recycle On Us program provides consumers an opportunity to give those products a new life.
How does Recycle On Us Work?
The program accepts toothbrushes, brush heads, toothpaste tubes, mouthwash containers, floss containers, floss string, and floss picks. Don't worry if it's not Oral-B — you can send oral care products from any brand.
Oral-B makes it super easy to recycle your toothbrushes. Instead of having to find a designated drop-off receptacle, Oral-B provides a prepaid shipping label. All you have to do is pack up a box with your used oral care products, print the free label, and ship it out to the recycling facility.
There is no weight limit to the box, and you don't need to sanitize your products before sending them. Just make sure everything is dry, as UPS does not accept wet packages.
Why should I recycle my oral care products?
It is estimated that people will use over 300 toothbrushes in their lifetime. In one year alone, the United States disposes of enough toothbrushes to wrap around the earth four times.
Given that toothbrushes and other oral care products need to be disposed of often, it's important to know how to dispose of them in an eco-conscious way
Conventional oral care products are a mix of different types of plastic, and most curbside recycling cannot recycle these products. Therefore, consumers have to seek out additional programs if they want to recycle their oral care products properly.
Oral-B's program offers consumers an easy way to get rid of their old oral care products. All you need is a box and a printer for the shipping label. Other than that, the program is completely free, saving you the hassle of figuring out how and where to recycle specific oral care products.
Are there similar programs to Oral-B's Recycle On Us?
Terracycle and Colgate offer a similar program to Oral-B's Recycle On Us. The process is the same, with free shipping for the used items.
Terracycle's program, however, has an enrollment limit, so you would have to join a waitlist to use the shipping program. Terracycle also offers public drop-off spots, which do not require signing up. A list of public recycling drop-off points can be found on Terracycle's website.
Some toothbrush brands offer take-back programs, but they are typically limited in what you can send to be recycled. Preserve's Toothbrush Takeback program gives you a $6 Preserve Store coupon for every six Preserve toothbrushes you send back to be recycled. This program only accepts Preserve toothbrushes and does not include other oral care products.
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