Oral-B Recycling Progam

What happens to your old toothbrush when you replace it? 

What about when you replace your toothpaste runs out or your reel of floss is empty?

Do they all just get thrown in the trash?

If you are like the vast majority of Americans, then the answer is going to be yes.

If your oral care products have been going in the trash, there is no need to be ashamed about this, because there hasn’t really been much in the way of better options.

However, now there are a number of different programs that exist that can stop products like this going to landfill and instead see them repurposed into other products such as benches, bottles and even clothes.

Brush. Rinse. Repeat. 

This is the tagline for a recycling program sponsored by Crest and Oral-B.

It is the latest recycling initiative from a leading oral care brand, following in the footsteps of Colgates recycling programme and Tom’s of Maine too.

This scheme works in much the same way and is focused on helping tackle oral care waste such as used manual toothbrushes, electric toothbrush heads, toothpaste tubes and dental floss.

Regular recycling programs are unfortunately not designed to deal with the particular types of plastics found within oral care products.  Toothpaste tubes in particular are much more difficult to recycle.

But, it is possible to do so with the right systems in place.  And that is exactly what is available here thanks to Oral-B and Crest.

How it works

This is a very simple and free system to use.

There are 3 key stages.

1. Collect – Gather all your used oral care waste, including spent toothbrushes, floss containers and toothpaste tubes and pack them into any size box.
2. Print – When the box is full, seal it up and download a free shipping label from the Oral-B recycling website.
3. Mail it – Ship the full box to the processing facility for recycling.

To get your shipping label head to https://recycling.oralb.com/.

What is accepted

The Brush. Rinse. Repeat recycling program accepts the vast majority of consumables associated with oral care at home.  You can return:

• Manual toothbrushes
• Electric toothbrush heads
• Toothpaste tubes and caps
• Mouthwash bottles and containers
• Floss containers
• String floss
• Floss picks

It does not matter what brand the products are, they will all be accepted.

What is not accepted

Whilst the program accepts a large proportion of oral care products, currently, it is not possible to return

• Electric toothbrush handles (with or without the battery)
• Battery powered toothbrush handles (with or without the battery)

An electric toothbrush can only be recycled when dropped off in person at participating dental office recycling centre.

A locator tool will be made available in the near future, but it is not available at the time of writing.

Things to note

• You can send as much or as little as you like into the recycling program.
  • To maximize efficiency and get the most out of it, try and collect as much as is possible before shipping it to the processing facility.
• There is no cost to you for sending these items back.  
  • Upon completing the online form at https://recycling.oralb.com/, a UPS shipping label will be created and they will collect it from you and send it to the recycling facility.
• You will need to provide the box for shipping and seal this before attaching the shipping label.
• You do not have to wash all the items prior to sending.
  • Although, please ensure that tubes of toothpaste and mouthwash are as empty as possible.  
  • Please also make sure items are dry. 
  • UPS will not be able to collect damp or wet packages.

Do your bit for the planet and get collecting and recycling oral care products today.

When your box is full ship them to the recycling facility to be turned into new products by visiting https://recycling.oralb.com/.