Here is a guide if you are having trouble taking off the head for the first time https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17973964490648589/
Fongky started out of frustration that there wasn’t a solution for toothbrushes once they are no longer usable.
After researching I now understood why:
- All the materials are fused together – Rubber, Polypropylene, Nylon, Metals, etc (same for bamboo)
- This makes it difficult and time consuming to separate
- The materials hold negative to no value
The scale of the problem is huge – because this is not a NZ problem its a global problem – 30 billion toothbrushes are ending up in landfills every year and theres no way to stop the flow unless we stop brushing our teeth!
Fongky can solve 85% of the problem – we need your help to spread the word!
I would have preferred to use a natural material, heres why I decided on plastic:
Fongky is designed to be reused and last, toothbrushes are used and stored in a wet environment (the bathroom) so using something like bamboo wouldn’t cut it as it would degrade and wouldn’t last
Aluminum was also considered – the 2 main challenges:
- Price – the total cost would have made the toothbrush out of reach for many people and that wouldn’t be cool
- Performance – the feeling of an aluminum toothbrush in the mouth wasn’t nice and if you drop it on your foot or floor it could cause damage
While plastic should be avoided where possible, for a toothbrush its still the best option – the toothbrush is made from 100% recycled plastic so we are not adding any new plastic into the environment
Fongky is designed on the waste hierarchy and what is best for the people and planet at the time
The British Dental Journal published a life cycle analysis (LCA) on 11 Sep 2020 reviewing:
- Plastic manual toothbrush
- Bamboo toothbrush
- Plastic manual toothbrush with replaceable heads
- Electric toothbrush
The Plastic manual toothbrush with replaceable heads came out on top – thats us!!
Interestingly, electric toothbrushes were the worst on 15/16 categories (Acidification, Climate change, Ecotoxicity freshwater, Eutrophication freshwater, Eutrophication marine, Eutrophication terrestrial, Human health cancer effects, Human health ionising raiation, Human health non cancer effects, Human health particulate matter formation, Human health petrochemical ozone formation, land use, ozone depletion, Resource use energy, Resource use mineral and metals)
