My 9 year old son Dylan, had been tasked with a project in school entitled “changes”, he decided that his project would be about plastic in our Oceans. Little did we know at the time, that this homework assignment was about to bring around some big changes, not just for us as a family but for our incredible Planet too. We were horrified and sickened reading the facts and seeing the images of plastic pollution in our Oceans. Dylan turned to me and said ‘Mummy I am ashamed, what can we do to change this’. That’s all I needed to hear. Between the children, the dog, work, after school activities and training, any spare minute I had was dedicated to researching a sustainable toothbrush, that was going to be kind to the Planet. Yes, it’s safe to say it became a bit of an obsession! After several weeks My Toosh was formed.
The toothbrush that started it all!
We are very fortunate to live in Pembrokeshire, the UK’s only Coastal National Park and are very protective of it. Living only half a mile from the beach, we are usually there most days and every time we go we take a bag and pick up any rubbish we see along the way. The children love it, they understand the difference they are making and feel a sense of pride.
I decided to take a closer look at what we had collected on one of our beach cleans and to my surprise came across a toothbrush, along with the usual suspects; crisp packets, plastic water bottle, a dummy, half a tennis ball, fishing nets, a sole of a shoe and a car mud guard (wasn’t expecting that either). It was only once I had tucked my little angels into bed and sat down with a lovely gin and tonic, that the penny dropped. I had ginspiration! Why, oh why are we using tooth brushes made from plastic! It just doesn’t make sense. The more I thought about it, it made absolutely no sense at all. For the last 81 years we have been using a product built to last forever to do a job for a couple of months.
Between the children, the dog, work, after school activities and training, any spare minute I had was dedicated to researching a sustainable toothbrush, that was going to be kind to the Planet. Yes, it’s safe to say it became a bit of an obsession! I discovered that bamboo toothbrushes are a natural, safe and eco-friendly alternative to plastic. After several weeks My Toosh was formed.
