The North Pacific gyre was first brought to our attention by friends, over dinner one night. We were dismayed to hear of this sea of plastic, twice the size of the state of Texas! We were so shocked and disgusted that we decided to try and live our lives with minimal plastic.
We started to pay a bit more attention to what we were buying during our weekly shop, trying to make better choices regarding packaging and choosing non-plastic alternatives when available. This was all going fine until we needed to replace the kids’ toothbrushes. We were struck by the amount of plastic that goes into a toothbrush, plus the unnecessary packaging and that there was no, non-plastic alternative. This is something we buy 3 or 4 of each year, how many is that over a lifetime? We didn’t buy a toothbrush that day and started to research the alternatives to a plastic toothbrush. There wasn’t one available in New Zealand. This prompted further research.
And so we created Go Bamboo. Not only did we discover a green toothbrush but we also discovered the environmental benefits of bamboo as a raw material. Why couldn’t bamboo be used in place of plastic in more disposable items?
