Monday, June 05, 2006
Eco-abomination - the disposable electric toothbrush
I had my parents come up at the weekend. This may not seem such a big
deal, but it's an eight hour drive for them, and they were bringing me
furniture, so it was a big deal. But that's not what I wanted to talk
about.
What I wanted to talk about was this: My Mum, who's a dentist, showed
me a free sample she'd been sent recently, of an electric toothbrush. A
disposable electric toothbrush. I mean, completely disposable. There
was no way of charging the battery, and no way of replacing it. Is it
only me whose blood boils at this sort of profligacy? The life of the
blasted thing is governed by one thing only - the power in the battery.
If you made the battery replaceable, you could increase the life of the
thing dramatically - but no, some evil company wanted to sell as many
of the cursed things as they could, so they sealed it up. What's more,
since it's a sealed unit it'd be extremely difficult (probably
impossible) to recycle - if anyone would bother. That is genuinely
EVIL. There is NO EXCUSE for that sort of waste. In my shower, I have a
razor which is a similar size and shape, and has a replaceable battery
in - so there are no problems with the dampness of the environment, or
sealing the thing. There is literally no excuse, and it poos all over everything I hold to be important about design.
Unfortunately, I can't find any links to the thing, and I can't
remember what make it was. It was a reputable tooth-stuff manufacturer,
I remember that much - Colgate, or Oral-B, or someone. It was someone,
in short, who should know better. It's bad design, and it's positively
disgusting.
Your sincerely,
Disgusted of Edinburgh.
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16 comments:
It's a true waste, but when the battery dies, you can just move your hand up and down and brush your teeth old school, can't you?
It's Oral-B. I have the green one. Do I disgust you, Moom?
Death is too good for them
I'm fine with electric toothbrushes. I'm not so fine with disposable cameras, toothbrushes, cars, plates, cutlery, plastic bags...
Anything you can't find at a second-hand store is either disposable or evil.
Dentures?
And Marie, you don't disgust me. But if I met your toothbrush at a party, I would feel compelled to make some very snide comments behind its back.
Humph! My toothbrush is a homebody, never goes out to parties.
Actually, I try to recycle as much as possible, but when I'm buying something I don't think about its afterlife. Your post has actually made me think about it. You're doing some good in this world, Moom!
Thanks. Every day I seem to come across shocking holes in my knowledge, even as I try (in my lazy, half-hearted, comfortable city-dweller way) to be more eco-friendly. For instance, food miles. There are some shocking statistics about how much of my eco-footprint is made up of emissions from vehicles shipping food from across the world, just so I can have strawberries in mid-winter. If I only bought local produce, I could drive to work every day via Newcastle (that's a long way away) and still be more environmentally friendly!
Case in point: I shed 25 pounds and two inches from my waist in less than two months by simply getting out of my chair whenever I wanted a cola, newspaper, stamp for an envelope, lottery ticket, sandwhich, and the list goes on. I then walked to the store and purchased what I wanted, then either walked home with it or consumed it and walked home. The stores I frequent are almost 1 mile from my house, so I made the trip daily or more often several times daily.
Twofold benefit:
1. More exercise, but less wear and tear on my car, icebox, airconditioning, and seat of my pants.
2. A changed sense of immediacy, better short term planning, more forestalling of needs until my level of dissatisfaction reached a critical level, and a more all-encompassing view of what is "local" and what is "global".
That's very clever, halfsure. I'll keep that exercise regime in mind for later...
You could take some coal up there whilst you're at it.
Early this morning I was dreaming about bombs, terrorists, and saving the world. Somewhere along my dream, I popped into a convenience store and bought a recyclable toothbrush and an almond nougat bar. Then I went back to saving the world from terrorists with Nicholas Cage.
I'd have left them alone, and let them keep him. The guy's just not worth it.
I had no choice in the matter, it was my subconscious mind who brought him into my dream.
Huh? Wasn't it the terrorists who had Nicholas Cage? I mean, having access to a Coppola is pretty bad news for your opponents at the best of times. Just ask Colonel Kurtz what a Coppola can do for your career.
No, Nick wasn't in the hand of the terrorists, he and I were fighting the them. Saving the world as usual.
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