How do I recycle my toothbrush?

Ever wondered if you could recycle your toothbrush? Bow Lane Dental Group is proud to announce toothbrush and oral care products recycling. Help us to prevent them from going to landfills and let us all be a bit more environmentally friendly. Please drop by your old toothpaste tubes (squeeze out toothpaste first) and caps, toothbrushes, electric toothbrush heads, interdental brushes and floss containers into our recycling point at Bow Lane. It is completely free and will help the planet!

Where to recycle my toothbrush

Bow Lane has partnered with TerraCycle. They mechanically and hand separate all the waste into fibres, which are then recycled into new paper products. They can also be composted if recycling is not possible. The resulting plastics will be recycled into plastic polymers. Therefore, we recycle the electric toothbrush heads but NOT the bodies, the closest place to us that can recycle electric toothbrushes is at Old Street, next to Fire Station, Hackney, Hoxton, EC1V 9EY. You can find your nearest electric toothbrush recycling centre HERE.

Electric toothbrush recycling

The Waste Electrical or Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive requires the UK to maximise separate collection and environmentally friendly processing of electric toothbrushes. To locate your nearest recycling centre please visit Recycle More.

How often to change toothbrush

Our dental hygienists advise you to change your toothbrush every 3 months which is great for oral health but bad for the environment. Did you know, in the course of a typical lifetime we get through over 300 toothbrushes? Also, that is a significant number of toothbrushes simply disappearing into the dustbin. Over 80% of people give them an alternative purpose, which is brilliant.

In fact, the top five uses of worn toothbrushes are:

1. Washing bathroom tiles
2. Cleaning bicycles
3. Polishing jewellery
4. Cleaning computer keyboards
5. Scouring the toilet

Drop them in the recycle bin at Bow Lane Dental, smile nicely at our team and they may even give you a brand new purple toothbrush!