Image: istockphoto.com/Anthony Rosenberg
Jennifer Tobin, Whitby, ON
Most dental floss is made from nylon or Teflon and the thread is coated with waxes to ease your path to healthy gums. This super-strong thread won’t degrade so it shouldn’t be flushed down your toilet. It can contribute to a blockage in the pipe between the sewer and your home.
In some Canadian municipalities, discarded floss is also jamming pumps at sewage-treatment facilities.
Native Americans used yucca-leaf fibres to make dental floss, but today, manufacturers such as Radius are making natural flosses from silk that will biodegrade in a landfill and perhaps even in the compost in your yard.
Radius is available at Whole Foods locations in Canada and at health-food stores such as Choices Markets in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. However, some environmentalists and animal-rights activists ask consumers not to buy flosses made from silk because silk production causes painful deaths for insects.
Got a pressing environmental question? Ask Steve Bearton, journalist, environmental advocate and the Eco Geek!
Green Living Blogs
Nothing biodegrades in a landfill, my friend. Very little anyway. Newsprint is one of the most readily biodegradable substances, and readable newspapers can be dug up from 50 years ago. The compost in your yard is a better bet. Your statement should read:
"natural flosses from silk that will biodegrade in the compost in your yard"
Good grief I think it's stupid to worry about floss anyway, it probably accounts for 0.0000001% of the total garbage stream.