While the majority of Australians have developed excellent habits in recycling household waste such as cans, plastic bottles and cardboard, there are still a lot of things that are thrown into the rubbish bin without much thought.
What many people don’t realise is that many things like pens, plastic gloves and even coffee capsules can be recycled, diverting millions of tonnes of waste from filling up our landfills each year.
Before you throw your old toothbrush, empty toothpaste tube or even your dried-up mascara into the trash, consider recycling these items through TerraCycle.
What is TerraCycle?
Since the Terracycle programme began, more than 7.5 billion waste items have been recycled by more than 200 million people. TerraCycle was created to recycle non-recyclable items and reduce the amount of waste that we send to landfills.
TerraCycle operates in 20 countries and partners with individual collectors and businesses of different sizes to properly manage and recycle waste that would otherwise be considered too hard to recycle.
There are a few ways that TerraCycle operates:
- Free recycling programmes. You can join a recycling programme then collect the waste in your home, school or office. Once you have collected a stash you can send to TerraCycle for recycling and earn rewards for non-profits and schools. There are programmes for electric toothbrushes, oral care and much more. While you will need to package items yourself to send back, TerraCycle will provide you with a free shipping label.
- Zero waste boxes. Zero waste boxes can be used in schools, offices or community centres to encourage the recycling of hard-to-recycle’ waste. Different size boxes are available and can be used for books, toys, cleaning supplies or cosmetic products.
- Industrial waste solutions. Solutions are available for businesses that have a large amount of hard-to-recycle waste. Dental practices and medical clinics can benefit from these to ensure safe recycling of waste products.
How we at Coburg Hill Oral Care reduce our waste contribution
At Coburg Hill Oral Care, we are conscious of our planet and have introduced sustainable practices to reduce our impact on the environment. We have partnered with TerraCycle to effectively manage a large portion of our waste that we previously were unable to put into normal recycling bins.
We feel confident that we are eliminating a lot of waste from going into landfills and encourage our patients to consider their choices when it comes to handling of dental products that are no longer needed.
What you can do at home
Being involved with the TerraCycle Oral Care recycling programmes is not only good for our environment but it’s also a way to encourage friends and family to think about how they dispose of waste. This programme allows you to recycle the following:
- Manual toothbrushes
- Electric toothbrush heads
- Toothpaste tubes
- Floss containers
- Plastic packaging from toothbrushes and toothpaste
You can arrange to become a Community Collection Hub so that others in your community can bring their oral care waste to you. While you will need to do a small amount of work to coordinate this, you will be raising money for a school or charity plus removing some of what goes into our landfills.
If you’d like to know more about how Coburg Hill Oral Care is recycling waste with TerraCycle, feel free to ask us any questions you might have when you come in for your regular check-up or cleaning appointment.
