SAKI'S SUSTAINABLE DAILY - VOL. 11 – Borderless Creations

Hello! I’m Saki, Borderless Creations’ Ambassador!

Today, I’m writing about oral care and THE HUMBLE CO. “FLOSS PICKS”.

And, at the end, I’m writing about Microplastics in oral care and in cosmetics in Japan.

-Oral care and Plastic-

I wasn’t the kind of person who uses floss, but once I got my braces, I realized how important it is and how effective it is!

Plaque is a clear coating bacteria that sticks to your teeth. With just brushing your teeth, only 60% of plaque is removed, but by using floss as a plus, it is said that floss enables to remove about 80% of plaque stuck to your teeth! (*1)

However, the flosses you can find in stores are mostly made of 100% plastic. And, the world consumes more than 10 billion plastic oral care products every year (*2). Most of which end up in landfills and oceans. We need to clean our teeth and keep healthy, also to keep health of ours and the planet, we need to reduce plastics in oral care. How do we do that?

-THE HUMBLE CO. FLOSS PICKS-

You want to reduce plastics from oral care? You can start by using THE HUMBLE CO. FLOSS PICKS!

Features:

✔︎Developed by dentists

✔︎Main ingredient: cornstarch

✔︎Handle: Plant based materials（PLA）70% and polypropylene（PP）30%

✔︎Free from BPA

✔︎Vegan certified

Made mainly from cornstarch. Yes! Reducing plastic. And, floss is something you put in your mouth. Which, you would want it to be safe. THE HUMBLE CO.’s FLOSS PICK is BPA free and the scent is natural aroma from Mentha Piperita.

Also, I use one floss pick repeatedly for around 7 days, which reduces waste compared to everyday disposal of the floss!

What’s more, the floss doesn’t get stuck between my teeth, it is so smooth and soft! Doesn’t hurt at all, no bleeding gummy.

Perfectly functions as a floss pick!

THE HUMBLE CO. FLOSS PICKS, keeps your teeth clean and enables to reduce plastic waste. Perfect to start your less-plastic oral care life!

Available at Borderless Creations:

Floss Picks

＜Micro-plastics in Oral care and in cosmetics(Japan)＞

Picture from：https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0269749123021206

In some of the oral care and cosmetics, it is said that there are microplastics within the ingredient. Do you see any microplastics in your oral care and cosmetics? If the description has “polyethylene”, that’s plastic.

By looking at a research done in 2016 in Japan, “polyethylene” was found in 2,150 products(out of 29,656 products)(*3). In EU, from 2023, Regulation 2023/2055 restricts synthetic polymer microplastics on their own or intentionally added mixtures (*4). In Japan, a law was created to make effort to reduce/stop the use of microplastics in products(*5). However, in Japan, it is “to make effort” so not a regulation.

In this situation, what made me so happy was that some companies in Japan are very clear on “not using microplastic” in their products(*6).

And as of the oral cares and cosmetics I use, I couldn’t find “polyethylene” in the ingredients. How about yours?

To the world without plastic wastes, it is still far away, but I feel like we are definitely heading to the right direction.

Let’s keep making action, to no-plastic waste world!

You can find more oral care products in Borderless Creations:

https://borderlesscreations.com/en/collections/the-humble-co