May 30, 2019

Bare Brush Review, Eco-Friendly Bamboo Toothbrush

Going vegan is one of the best things to do for the planet. Mother Earth is in crisis, and we all need to do as much as possible to reverse the damage.

I recently read a report from the United Nations that stated the meat and dairy industry uses 83% of farmland, accounts for 58% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions but only 18% of food calories. The report also noted that around one million species are at risk of extinction, with much of the blame put on animal agriculture, saying that the meat industry has a “particularly heavy impact”.

Our society’s demand for meat and animal products has resulted in animal agriculture decimating rainforests and arable land, massive pollution, ocean dead zones, species extinction due to habitat destruction and much more.

The average Australian uses 500 litres of water a day. To make one kilo of beef, a farmer needs to use 14,000 litres of water. That’s a lot of our most precious resource for just one meal. To put it into perspective, protein rich vegetables need about 300 litres per kilo.

The single best thing you can do for the environment is to go vegan, but there are also other small changes we can make to reduce our impact.

I especially love discovering new ways to reduce our plastic waste. According to Ocean Conservancy, “every year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter our ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate our marine environments. ” Here is a list of 50 simple ways to go green at home, and number 20 on the list is to ditch your plastic toothbrush.

Did you know that each year over 30 million toothbrushes go into landfill? We’re told to replace our toothbrush every 3 months, and with over 20 million people in Australia that’s a LOT of plastic waste.

One simple way to reduce your impact is to switch to a bamboo brush. We recently tried Bare Brush, an Australian company passionate about the planet, sustainability and sparkly clean teeth!

Their Bare Bio Toothbrush is created from 100% biodegradable, sustainably sourced bamboo in Asia. We ordered ours online and they arrived in recycled and compostable packaging.

One of the things I loved, after the excitement of unwrapping the cute little parcels, was that each brush is colour coded. Often bamboo toothbrushes are one colour so easily get mixed up. Bare Brush come in a range of vibrant colours so we can always tell between them.

I recently went to a talk about low-tox living, and was horrified to hear of the amount of chemicals in regular toothpastes, and also the plastics and BPAs used in bristles and tooth floss. (Quick tip – avoid those micro-bead toothpastes like the plague!)

Bare Brush have BPA-free nylon and bamboo infused bristles, which are naturally anti-bacterial and anti-microbial. They are also soon releasing their own natural toothpaste.