PDSE Introduces Bamboo Toothbrushes to Support Sustainability Goals
PDSE is proud to announce an important step forward in reducing environmental impact across all sites: the transition from standard plastic toothbrushes to more sustainable bamboo alternatives.
Globally, the scale of plastic toothbrush waste is significant. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that 3.5 billion toothbrushes are sold worldwide each year. Most get lost in the recycling process and end up in landfill or make their way into our rivers and oceans. These toothbrushes are made from polypropylene plastic and nylon and can take up to 500 years or more to decompose! Bamboo only takes a fraction of this making it a much more sustainable option.
As part of this change, PDSE will no longer be purchasing traditional plastic adult and child toothbrushes. Instead, a bamboo-based alternative will be introduced across services, helping to significantly reduce plastic waste while maintaining quality.
More than 3,100 toothbrushes were ordered across PDSE facilities across the last academic year, which included a wide range of plastic toothbrush types. By switching to bamboo alternatives for standard adult and child toothbrushes, PDSE has identified a simple but meaningful opportunity to reduce single-use plastics.
To ensure a responsible and efficient transition, PDSE will run down any remaining stock of plastic toothbrushes currently held across sites. Once existing supplies are exhausted, all standard toothbrush ordering will move exclusively to the bamboo option. This phased approach minimises unnecessary waste while ensuring continuity of supply for teams and patients.
The bamboo toothbrushes selected have already been trialled within community settings, with positive feedback received on their quality and usability. These products are also being included in PDSE’s Open Wide and Step Inside oral health resource packs, further strengthening the organisation’s commitment to promoting sustainable oral health practices beyond clinical environments. Find out more about our Open Wide and Step Inside programme here.
This initiative forms part of PDSE’s wider sustainability strategy, which focuses on reducing environmental impact across operations, procurement, and community engagement. By making more sustainable choices in everyday items such as toothbrushes, PDSE continues to demonstrate how small changes, when implemented at scale, can contribute to meaningful environmental progress.
Find out more about our sustainability initiatives here.
