Sustainability
How much sustainability is there in Denttabs products?
Before we get into the topic of sustainability, we need to get something off our chest: We are not perfect. At Denttabs, we make mistakes, learn, make mistakes again, and learn again.
Nevertheless, sustainability is especially close to our hearts at Denttabs. We follow the most important sustainability principles and have founded the Initiative Kreislaufverpackung to bring more transparency to our disposal system. However, we are by no means at the end and try to take small steps more towards sustainable business every day. Here we want to show you transparently and openly where we stand and where the journey should go.
Our packaging
The Denttabs packaging consists of 45% paper and 55% inner bio-film. The bio-film, in turn, is composed of a polymer layer that is 63% polylactide (PLA based on corn starch) and 37% PBAT polymer. The rest of the packaging comprises the adhesive (5%) and a ceramic water vapor barrier (<1%).
Both PLA and PBAT are biodegradable and industrially compostable. This means that the packaging has been proven to decompose under certain conditions (temperature, moisture and oxygen supply). Denttabs packaging is therefore also certified for industrial compost, meaning that it has been proven to degrade 90% in industrial compost after 90 days under the required composting conditions.
We would like to move away from PLA and PBAT in the future and are already working on even more ecological packaging.
Biobased
This means that our packaging is mainly made from renewable raw materials. In our case, it is corn starch.
Biodegradable
Our packaging is proven to degrade 90% in industrial compost after 90 days.
Natural cosmetics certified
Like our toothpaste tabs, our packaging bears the COSMOS seal of the BDIH for controlled natural cosmetics.
Good life cycle assessment
We have a lightweight, environmentally friendly packaging with a low volume and short as well as efficient transportation.
Less plastic and packaging
Toothpaste tabs require about 80% less packaging than toothpaste. One bag of toothpaste tabs is equivalent to two tubes of toothpaste and lasts for 2 months. Moreover, you can use up the toothpaste tabs to the last tab - with toothpaste, up to 14% remains unused in the tube.
Our toothpaste tabs
Our Mint toothpaste tabs have 12 ingredients, the Strawberry version 13. This makes it much easier to control raw material purchasing. Although the supply chain is complex, even with just a few ingredients, if you want to trace it from its origin. We have long-term suppliers from which we source the ingredients for our Denttabs. We work with our immediate suppliers to understand their working processes as well as their supply chain. In doing so, we prefer local suppliers from the EU who themselves have clear social and environmental transparency and are happy to work with us. A transparent supply chain is our big goal. We are currently working hard to tell you as customers more about our supply chain and be more transparent. But this still needs a little time. For the transport and storage of our toothpaste tabs, we have made a conscious decision not to bring any new packaging material into circulation. We use steel barrels instead of cardboard boxes for this purpose. These are of course returned and reused.
Climate neutral
We have calculated and offset the carbon footprint of our Denttabs toothpaste tabs together with Climate Partner. Only 164.2g of CO2 is produced per bag of toothpaste tabs, resulting in 1.31g CO2 per t.
Renewable raw material
More than two-thirds of our toothpaste tabs contain a renewable raw material: cellulose from FSC-certified forests in Sweden.
Water-free
We do without water in our toothbrush tabs and thus without an important resource.
Made in EU
Our toothpaste tabs are manufactured and produced in the EU.
Our bamboo toothbrush
We have chosen bamboo as a resource for our toothbrushes. Bamboo is perfect for oral care due to its antibacterial and odor-resistant properties. We cooperate with the manufacturer @Bambuu, who donates 10% of its profits to a social project.
Right now, we still source our toothbrushes from China. The transport of bamboo to Europe causes large amounts of harmful greenhouse gases. Ultimately, we have to wait and observe further development in the still small market. Nevertheless, due to its extremely rapid growth and high CO2 storage capacity, bamboo is in principle more sustainable than the wood of most trees.
Biodegradable
Unlike most conventional plastics, bamboo is biodegradable.
Renewable resource
Giant bamboo, for example, grows up to 20 meters high within a few months.
Resistant material
Bamboo does not require pesticides or fertilizers.
Good life cycle assessment
Bamboo toothbrushes emit 6x less CO2 equivalent than a plastic toothbrush.
Axel im Interview zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit
Axel talks about his vision for the future, the Fridays-4-Future movement and political responsibility as a company.
