A sustainable electronics leader warns that the rise of electric toothbrushes is adding to the world’s growing mountain of harmful ewaste.
Experts at UK-based In2tec, a specialist in sustainable technology, says cheap toothbrushes and consumers upgrading to new high-end models with superficial, gimmicky enhancements are adding to landfill unnecessarily.
In 2022, an estimated 34 million people in the UK used electric toothbrushes with 12 million people having switched in the 5 years between 2015 and 2020, while it is hard to get reliable data on how many are thrown away, the number is doubtless significant – last year Expert Reviews analysed data that revealed that the UK throws away 2,266 tonnes of toothbrushes each year – 212 million electric toothbrush heads and manual brushes.
Throwaway electronics have a devastating ecological impact, trigger serious health problems among waste pickers in developing countries, and use up staggering amounts of vital and...
