A Bare Spotlight On Zero Waste Products: Dental Care
There are numerous zero waste products available these days that help people transition away from using products that are packaged in plastic and/ or contain harmful chemical ingredients.
Speaking to Founder & CEO of Bare Necessities Zero Waste India, Sahar Mansoor, this interview series looks at the reasons why the Bangalore based social business chooses to provide alternative, earth friendly options to consumers in India.
"The package is not noticed during purchase, transport, and use of the product—in fact, it is not noticed until the minute the product is consumed and the package had fulfilled its function and turns into waste" (source).
What materials are used for your dental care range?
Bamboo and charcoal bamboo for our compostable toothbrushes.
Coconut oil, baking soda and peppermint oil for our toothpaste. Neem, clove, rock salt, amla powder, activated bamboo charcoal powder, and peppermint for our two toothpowders.
Why do you use this type of material?
Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on the planet, and after use (our toothbrushes last three to four months) they can be composted.
The ingredients for our paste and powders are widely available and local to South India. Plus they do not contain harmful ingredients.
The packaging we use also moves us away from toothpaste tubes and brushes, which are notoriously hard to recycle and will often end up in our oceans. We choose material based on long term benefits.
Why design it in this way?
Bamboo can be fashioned into a sustainable version of a plastic toothbrush. Similarly, our other packaging provides an alternative to all plastic varieties, including our small glass jars that can be refilled and reused at our shop or people can use it again in different ways at home.
All of the ingredients that we use in our toothpaste and toothpowder are natural, do not contain ingredients that may be harmful for people or the planet and keeps our mouths clean!
Where did the team gain inspiration for this product from?
We designed our alternatives to move people away from the mass marketed, harmful products that are widely used. We realised that the FMCG industry creates and manufactures products that are harmful to the environment and that we were missing alternative options in India.
We found ways of using natural ingredients to take the place of widely used plastic products. In this way nature replaced a man made plastic item that had previously replaced natural items such as a neem or miswak stick. A full circle.
