Floss: Good for your Health, Bad for the Environment! 

Ok you’re at the dentist’s office, they ask you how often you are flossing…

If you’re like most people, your face goes blank and you let out a little white lie, “umm, once a day at least.” Then as the visit finishes up, they hand you over a little plastic container with floss in it – time to get flossing again, right?

Unless you’re one of the only 30% of Americans who truly do floss daily, then yay for you! Otherwise, the other 70% of you – listen up.

Ok so, why floss in the first place? Not to give you a huge speech here, but in short – flossing prevents cavities by removing plaque buildup between your teeth. 

The pain, and not to mention, the medical bill that follows a cavity should be enough to convince us all to take up daily flossing.

While you’re launching your flossing journey, don’t be tempted to take that plastic container with floss in it that the nice dental hygienist is handing you. That hard plastic container will take nearly 500 years to start biodegrading – and even then, it will only break down into smaller pieces that will stick around, called microplastics. The nylon floss in that plastic container will take “only” 50-80 years to begin to biodegrade. We think this is absurd, especially for a one-time use item. Nothing that we use during our lifetime should outlast us.

So what zero waste floss option is there? Have we heard of all natural silk floss yet? Silk floss is the way of the future!  

Silk floss is biodegradable, meaning it will quickly break down into smaller compounds. It is also compostable, meaning in a compost environment it will even break down within 90 days into it’s original natural compound and become nearly microscopic.

*For an in depth difference on compostable vs. biodegradable – check this out*

Still with me here? GREAT, because we have more to learn! How is silk floss made you may ask? Our eco-friendly silk floss is made from the ethically treated silk worm. They cocoon within the first 17 days of their life and their cocoon becomes so massive that it can produce more than 3,281 feet of all natural silk thread. The thread then enters an intensive weaving phase, before being boiled with baking soda and all natural soap. Clothing or floss can then be made after rinsing and drying the threads.

Ok but how is silk floss waxed? Our silk floss is waxed from organic, plant derived candelilla wax (an ethical substitute for bee's wax *save the bees!*) and then coated with natural mint flavoring. Candelilla wax is taken from the leaves of the candelilla plant and provides a perfectly smooth glide when flossing.

After switching over to plastic free organic silk floss, you are now one step closer to achieving a zero waste bathroom (and hopefully lifestyle!). Remember, there really is no excuse for single use plastic. 

Let this final thought sink in – since the beginning of plastic production (nearly only 70 years ago), we have produced 8.3 billion tons of plastic worldwide. Even IF people recycle, only 9% of what we recycle is ACTUALLY recycled properly, otherwise our oceans and landfills swallow up our waste. Do what you can and make the switch today to plastic-free silk floss.