We talk about green footprints, reduced environmental impact and sustainable consumption. But representing a more sustainable lifestyle is about more than marine life and air quality. It is also about creating a sustainable way of life based on our own health and well-being. The toothpaste tablets are sustainable from an environmental perspective. But their ingredients also make it easier for you to live sustainably. So what do the different ingredients mean, and their opposites?
What does ethical production mean?
Gumpearl takes great pride in being vegan, free from SLS products and palm oil, and packaged in glass jars instead of plastic. But what does all this mean?
Vegan products
The fact that Gumpearls toothpaste tablets and mouthwash tablets are vegan basically means that they do not contain any animal products. Such as gelatin, glycerin, bone meal, allantoin or albumen. In addition, Gumpearls dental care products do not contain any microplastics, which can also have a negative impact on wildlife. The dental care products are of course not tested on animals either.
Choosing vegan is not just an option for those who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet and lifestyle. Choosing vegan products has several positive benefits for both you and the environment.
Avoid SLS substance
In an increasing number of cases, you may come across the term SLS and that products are free of these substances. But do you know what it means?
SLS stands for Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and is a substance that changes the surface tension between two substances. Thus, SLS enables the mixing of two substances that usually cannot be combined, such as oil and water. It is also the substance that makes products foam and is therefore often found in shampoos, toothpastes and soaps. SLS is often extracted from coconut or palm oil, which in itself makes it a "natural" product.
But the reason you want to avoid SLS in your dental products is because they contain alcohol, which dries out the mucous membranes in your mouth. Which in turn can result in gum inflammation.
Several studies have been conducted to determine whether SLS has any significant role in dental care products, and have concluded that this is not the case. Today, it only has a foaming effect, which in itself has no impact on your oral hygiene.
No unnecessary consumption of water
Producing, shipping and using products that contain a lot of water results in direct unnecessary consumption. Today, when we look at the efficient distribution of consumer goods, sustainable alternatives and their impact on nature and wildlife, there is no reason to ship large amounts of water.
Partly in the toothpaste tablets, but mainly in the mouthwash tablets, we avoid shipping water and can instead take advantage of the fact that in Sweden we have high-quality tap water. Instead of shipping bottles of mouthwash across the country, we distribute a small jar with the same number of portions of mouthwash where each tablet dissolves in tap water.
The amount of water may be the same, but by using mouthwash tablets instead of bottled mouthwash, we avoid both water and plastic consumption.
Active choices do the trick
There are several steps to making the shift to a more sustainable lifestyle, but swapping everyday consumer products for more sustainable alternatives is a good start. Just by choosing toothpaste tablets the next time you run out of toothpaste, you've made a choice that benefits both you and the environment.
An active choice can therefore mean that you give yourself better conditions for good oral health, you reduce the risk of negative impacts on wildlife and nature, and you create ripples in the water for ethical consumption and production.
If you want to know more about our products and our sustainability work, all information is available here .
