The power of your bamboo toothbrush

If you think of one item that every single person absolutely can’t live without, what comes to mind? Perhaps, a toothbrush. Yes, every single human needs one. But where do they come from? And where do they go when we are done with them? Colgate- Palmolive toothbrushes are one of the leading most trusted brands in their Industry. They launched their first toothbrush in 1873, being one of the first companies to implement the Nylon bristles resulting in mass producing this highly demanded household necessity. Though they are leading their industry in implementing environmental and employee protection policies, I will continue to buy a biodegradable toothbrush to ensure that I can maintain reducing my ecological footprint with small swaps that lead to bigger impacts.

In 2013, Colgate-Palmolive incorporated an initiative to focus on the logistics of distribution. Considering Colgate-Palmolive has a world class global supply chain, with 30% of their sales coming from outside the USA; they made sure to develop facilities all over the world to minimize transportation and fuel cost. “ We are also working to increase the amount of intermodal transportation- by which goods are shipped in an intermodal container or vehicle that can move through different modes of transportation, such as by sea and rail.” (Planet 9) This small implementation can drive their carbon impact down roughly 10% in comparison to using trucks and aircraft by simply keeping the items in the same shipping structure and transporting that alone. They estimated that 75 percent of their carbon footprint came from the materials they were purchasing from suppliers, they are currently working on the most carbon- intensive raw materials and working with key suppliers to assess the greatest opportunities for reduction.

In addition to Colgates ongoing innovations, they ensure the quality of their facilities are top notch. They have 24 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified facilities around the world and is currently working on finishing forty new LEED certified facilities globally, including Latin America, Asia and Europe. Not only do the buildings reduce their Ecological footprint but are also simultaneously reducing the companies overall exposure to water and climate change related issues; and most importantly the safety of the workers in the facilities.

Knowing that they have manufacturing facilities all over Asia and the EU, I had to delve deeper into their labor laws to really find out if they are as transparent as they seem. As Vice President and General Manager, Philip Durocher states “We are committed to act with compassion, integrity, honesty and high ethics in all situations and to listen with respect to others and to value differences. The Company is also committed to protect the global environment, to enhance the communities where Colgate-Palmolive people live and work, to be compliant with government laws and regulations and to positively impact the lives of workers in our supply chain.” (Durocher 1) Discrimination is especially prevalent in healthcare and food-preparation companies, but companies such as Colgate-Palmolive, Whirlpool and Levi’s are developing explicit policy to try to prevent discrimination, guarantee personal confidentiality and provide support to employees who have experienced any type of hate crime. Even though this is the case, as I delved deeper I did find something fishy; Colgate-Palmolive’s Third Party Code of Conduct does not define the age below which a person falls into the category as a “Child” in regards to employment. In their Third Party Code of Conduct is also fails to mention how much they pay a living wage to the suppliers’ employees and did not put a limit on the amount of hours each employee can work per week nor a limit on their overtime hours. Granted these workers may be choosing to work overtime and harsh hours, they do receive compensation for their time and are able to contribute to their households that wouldn’t have put them on the assembly lines if it wasn’t necessary. It is an extremely unfortunate situation, but as awareness is being brought to these issues they will get better. In a recent article I read “In defense of Sweatshops” the Author states “If activists in the US do no undermine the process of development by eliminating these countries’ ability to attract sweatshops, then third world countries that adopt market friendly institutions will grow rapidly and sweatshops pay and working conditions will improve even faster than they did in the United States or East Asia.” (Powell 153) If we look at it in Retrospect third world countries actually need more sweatshops than less in order to exceed the current conditions.

Since Colgate-Palmolive launched, they have always been committed to their employees "For over 200 years, Colgate has been committed to “People.” From the near 38,000 employees around the world who run our business to the billions of consumers who use our products, people are at the heart of what we do and how we do it.” (People 3) They launched a program in 2013 by the name of “Helping Colgate People and Their Families Live Better.” It promotes physical and mental health as well as financial stability, aggregating the data anonymously to focus on the highest risk factors of the workers like weight lose, eating habits etc. As for ensuring the financial wellbeing of their workers, they offer financial education tools in 20+ select subsidiaries. All in which enhance the workers experience on the assembly lines, educating them and providing new opportunities. As Leslie Chang mentions in her latest TedTalk “It is globalization, this chain that begins in a Chinese Village and end with iPhones in our pockets, and Nikes on our feet, and couch purses around our arms, that has changed the way these millions of people have worked, have married and live and think (The Voice...) Although these are not ideal working conditions for you and I, they are much much better than what these workers are coming from. They are able to obtain new skills to move up in life and build stable careers for themselves that wouldn’t necessarily be an option in any rural area thus allowing them to exceed beyond the assembly line.

Even though, Colgate-Palmolive is leading in implementing sustainable efforts into their supply chain they are still designing their products for disposable purposes and producing them out of materials that last forever, plastic. Due to the fact that toothbrushes are manufactured through a multi-material process they are not eligible for recycling thus diverting them straight to the landfills to break down into micro pieces of plastic forever contaminating our water and soil.

A bamboo toothbrush for instance, is completely biodegradable other than their Nylon bristles which can be taken out and recycled separately. But just like any brand it important to make sure that their materials are sustainably sourced and ethically manufactured. A great brand as an alternative to Colgate would be The Green Root.