A British eco-friendly dental brand is developing the world’s first refillable toothpaste dispenser with biodegradable refill capsules.
Happier Beauty has received a Smart Innovate grant of £150,000 to develop the dispenser, which aims to help eliminate single-use plastic tubes and pumps. The company has already devised a toothpaste which it claims is 100% recyclable.
The new toothpaste dispenser will be made of aluminium and 50% recycled plastic, so designed for multiple usage, while the refill capsules are biodegradable.
Together the products will provide an alternative to standard toothpaste tubes that are notoriously difficult to recycle and result in 1.5 billion plastic cast-offs ending up in landfill every year.
Happier Beauty has already debuted a planet friendly toothpaste tube made of aluminum which is easily recycled. However, the brand wants to create a more circular solution to the climate crisis.
The new toothpaste dispenser will allow consumers to refill using biodegradable capsules. The refill capsules will be sent out to customers as a subscription, along with the reusable dispenser in their first subscription. Customers will be able to choose the frequency of their subscription.
Founder of Happier Beauty, Faye Wilson, said: “It is becoming clear that recycling will not save us from the climate crisis, and so Happier Beauty wanted to take it one step further by creating a truly circular refillable and reusable solution.
“We are so excited to be the world’s first toothpaste company to bring a refillable toothpaste dispenser to market. Refills are becoming more popular across food and beauty so why not dental care? Toothpaste is a product we all use twice a day but innovation in this market has been pretty slow up until now.
“Our refills have numerous advantages for the planet, they are easy to biodegrade so reduce the amount of plastic going to landfills.”