The Micro Toothbrush – A One-Hit Wonder With Lofty Landfill Aspirations

If hundreds upon thousands of common global citizens walking along the streets of our major cities were asked what single thing they could eliminate in their lives in order to help our planet, it’s likely that the majority of them would point their fingers at plastic – but it wasn’t always that way. The first modern day plastic made a splash on the U.S. market back in 1937 and our love affair with the inarguably convenient and positively resilient material has been fast and furious ever since. We’ve loved our Tupperware…we’ve been hopelessly devoted to the endless supply of cheap, disposable plastic goodies that we’ve guiltlessly chucked in the garbage…and when plastic bottles and bags made their debut in stores across the land, we became weak at the knees. There’s just one problem. Our googley-eyed affection was unrequited.

During the years that progressed, the allure of twinkley-tastic wonderful plastic prompted us to willingly demote and even altogether abandon the perfectly usable items in our life on a vast scale not previously known to mankind. Everyone and their uncle jumped on the bandwagon and for quite a while, a life with head-to-toe plastic was happiness indeed. The gravity of our disposable mentality never really registered in our brains, though -- at least not in what one might call a “timely manner.”

Conveniently, the media was circling overhead, poised and ready to rip us a new eco-conscience. We began to hear about landfills reaching maximum capacity and our garbage being shipped off to third world nations. Though we were introduced to the concept of recycling, startling facts and figures surfaced which suggested that we were carelessly (or lazily) ditching a high percentage of fully-recyclable materials despite having convenient, curbside pick-up service.

Talk of environmental consequences became more rampant along with constant reports of seabirds suffocating to death on our plastic trash and the discovery of a plastic soup of spiraling waste the size of Africa in the Pacific Ocean. Then, the toxicity of Bisphenol A made the headlines and we finally sat up and took notice. People of all ages and socio-economic circumstances are finally on the same page with regard to our plastic problem and it really seems like, once and for all, we’re all trying to do our part to break the habit.

Converting an entire global society over to reusable shopping bags and aluminum bottles has been the first line of defense – and an ongoing one at that -- but what about rethinking something as simple as a toothbrush? We all use it…at the minimum, twice a day. If we follow the recommendations of our friendly landfill-piranha dentist, we are advised to replace the essential oral tool at least 4 times each year, which means that if you reach the age of 80, you will have disposed of 300 toothbrushes throughout your lifetime. To grasp the massive scale involved, each year in the U.S. alone, 50 million pounds of toothbrushes make their way into landfills.

Alternatives to traditional Crest or Oral-B models are increasingly stepping up to the plate (http://www.radiustoothbrush.com/, http://tinyurl.com/d9u2kn) but are they enough to stave off Colgate’s latest product monstrosity? For the uninitiated, allow me to introduce the brand new Colgate Wisp – which for all intents and purposes, is a mini version of the toothbrush that all of us already use at home. What makes this product so unbelievably necessary in our society is that it measures a scant 3 ½ inches, making it mind-bogglingly portable, and it contains a “freshening bead” in the head which renders toothpaste and water unnecessary. Okay, so it’s slighty nifty and it certainly appeals to those of us who are suckers for Barbie Doll-sized versions of full-sized products, but do any of us really need this use-once-and-toss-forever doo-hickey in our lives?

I couldn’t help but measure the boring, ho-hum toothbrush sitting in my bathroom, and it’s just 3 ½ inches bigger. Is that really so gargantuan and cumbersome? Unbeknownst to Colgate, my old-school toothbrush actually does fit in my purse quite nicely, thank you very much -- in fact, it's served me well during special on-the-run occasions when the allure of fresh broccoli or carmelized heads of roasted garlic were far too strong for me to pass up. I find it particularly amusing that Colgate is propping up their petite eco-disaster with the claim that it’s “discreet” – as if it’s a shameful device that must be shielded from prying eyes at all costs. Does anyone really point and snicker when they spot an oral-hygiene-maniac engaging in extra-curricular midday brushing with – gasp! – a seven incher??? I am dying to hear your take on this product. In light of the fact that modern society is earnestly trying to kick the plastic habit, what do you make of Colgate’s latest contribution to the novelty oral healthcare arena?

http://agricultureguide.org/the-micro-toothbrush-%e2%80%93-a-one-hit-wonder-with-lofty-landfill-aspirations/