Electric toothbrush recycling

Two reasons – to save resources and prevent fires. Not only do electric toothbrushes contain valuable materials which can be recovered and reused, but they run on batteries which can cause fires in the waste stream if not managed properly. Like anything with a plug, battery or cable, when you recycle your electric toothbrush correctly, specialist recycling plants will break down your old device and recover the materials it is made of. Recycling materials in this way reduces the need to mine for more raw materials and manufacture more plastics. It’s better for the environment than sending your old toothbrush to landfill, or leaving it to gather dust in the bathroom drawer.

An electric toothbrush may be small but more than 30 million adults use one in the UK – so disposing of them properly at the end of their useful life is a big deal. Here’s an article on how to recycle lithium-ion batteries. And here’s an article about different sorts of batteries you can find in electric toothbrushes

Never bin old electricals. It is important to dispose of an electric toothbrush properly for two reasons. First, electric toothbrushes are powered by batteries that can cause fires in the waste stream if crushed or damaged. In fact, damaged batteries cause hundreds of fires every year in the UK. The second reason to dispose of old electric toothbrushes properly is so that valuable metals and plastic materials they contain can be recovered and reused.

The crossed-out wheelie-bin symbol on electrical products means you should not put the item in with your general rubbish. Read more about how waste electrical and electronic equipment is managed.

In principle, electric toothbrushes can be repaired. A fuse or power lead might be replaceable, for example. If you want to have a go at mending an electric toothbrush yourself check out our page on repairing electricals or visit the Restart directory to find repair shops by postcode.

The non-electrical bits of a toothbrush, and manual toothbrushes for that matter, can contain several materials from wood to metals to polymers. So they are not straightforward to recycle. Recycling and packaging specialists TerraCycle have developed schemes with large oral hygiene brands to collect and recycle non-electrical toothbrush parts – including electric toothbrush heads, electric flosser nozzles, interdental brush and dental floss containers. Here’s an article about how to recycle all the replaceable plastic parts.

Other companies such as LiveCoco and Brushd take back toothbrush heads for recycling. Bamboo or other wooden handles may be recycled in some areas. You could also add them to woody garden waste (as long as you detach the nylon bristles).