World Centric develops plant-based compostable toothbrush

PALO ALTO, Calif. — World Centric, which creates compostable products made from plants, not petroleum, has launched a line of compostable toothpastes and travel cases.

Every year in the United States some 450 million plastic toothbrushes make their way to landfills nationally. According to World Centric, its new toothbrush marks the first compostable toothbrush in the United States. The toothbrush and case are certified compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute. They also are more environmentally friendly, having a smaller carbon footprint because the plant-based resin, Ingeo, takes less energy to produce than petroleum-based plastic resins.

The World Centric toothbrush is designed to fully compost within three to six months when sent to a commercial composting facility. Simply throwing the World Centric toothbrush and case away and sending it off to the landfill will not allow it to biodegrade. Landfills are created to avoid degradation and will not break down the toothbrushes. For those customers who don’t have access to a commercial composting facility in their area, World Centric will provide a prepaid envelope that customers can use to return the toothbrush and case. World Centric then will send the returned product to a composting 
facility for biodegradation.

The soft bristles of the toothbrush are made of nylon but are not compostable. According to World Centric, the industry still is working to come up with bristles that are fully compostable. A notch between the head and the handle of the toothbrush is designed to make it easy to break off the head prior to sending it to the composting facility. The World Centric toothbrush and case come in blue, green and orange, and sell for $4.55. They are available at natural grocery stores and select Whole Foods stores nationwide.