Ah, the dentist… there’s nothing quite like that biannual plaque scraping and the interrogation over your dental hygiene habits. “Have you been flossing? Your gums are bleeding.”
Of course, that has nothing to do with them being poked by a sharp metal stick!
While no one likes being guilted by their dentist for not flossing, it is an important part of dental hygiene—but what eco-friendly floss options are there?
Many believe the only sustainable option is no floss at all, but for those of us who fall in the pro-flossing camp, there are alternatives that reduce your oral care hygiene footprint.
And that’s what we’ve curated for you in this roundup. Sustainable floss made by brands who care as much about the impact of their products as they do about their effectiveness.
As we refresh our articles in the coming months, we’ll be using our new Brand Rating System to assess brands against a range of eco-criteria, like chemical use and transparency. Take a look at our explainer here for all the details.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
Zero Waste Floss For Guilt-Free Gum Health
We loved using EcoRoots‘ floss, the bamboo fiber is strong, and smooth, and comes in a refillable glass jar.
While etee’s floss also comes with a refillable glass container, they provide little compostable refill bags for responsible disposal when you’re done. We found it performs really well and tastes great, though note that as it’s made from ahimsa silk, it’s not suitable for vegans.
Index: Sustainable Floss Brands
- EcoRoots Jump to section
- Etee Jump to section
- ZeroWasteStore.com Jump to section
- Georganics Jump to section
- Dental Lace Jump to section
- TreeBird Jump to section
- DIY Eco-Friendly Alternatives To Dental Floss Jump to section
EcoRoots
Price Range: $10
EcoRoots’ charcoal floss is made out of bamboo fiber, combined with activated charcoal and organic tea tree oil to detox and disinfect your mouth naturally. It’s flavored with organic peppermint oil for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. They also offer a non-charcoal variety made of compostable corn, plant-based candelilla wax, and organic mint and tea tree essential oils. There are no sweeteners, artificial flavoring, colorants, preservatives, or fluoride included.
Your first order comes in a glass and metal floss jar, which you can skip next time by ordering refill bundles that come in compostable boxes. You can also throw the used floss in your compost.
That’s just one of many plastic-free personal care products on offer from EcoRoots. You can also find soaps, deodorants, lip balms, and so much more from this ethical Amazon alternative.
Etee
Price Range: $12
etee cuts to the chase with one option of refillable silk floss. The floss itself has a natural peppermint flavoring thanks to some natural peppermint oil infused with the candelilla wax and peace silk strands. While this option is not vegan floss, it is the most ethically sourced silk on the market.
This compostable floss comes in either a glass or stainless steel sustainable floss holder, refillable via compostable cornstarch baggies.
If you’re looking to redo your entire dental routine, their Happy Tooth Essentials kit includes floss and bamboo toothbrushes, while other kids include toothpaste and mouthwash tablets.
Dental care isn’t the only thing etee offers. They sell a bunch of refillable cleaning products and reusable home essentials. All products are guaranteed to be delivered to your door 100% plastic-free. The boxes are printed with soy-based inks and shipped in cardboard boxes with cellulose packing tape.
My Personal Review of etee’s Floss:
“The texture of etee’s silk floss is as smooth as, well, silk, and it glides effortlessly between even my tightest teeth, effectively removing plaque without causing any irritation. I also love the subtle mint flavor, which leaves my mouth feeling fresh and clean without being too potent.”
Review by Amber McDaniel, SJ’s Head of Content
ZeroWasteStore.com
Price Range: $8–$14
ZWS Essentials is the in-house line from one of our favorite zero waste online stores, ZeroWasteStore.com.
They offer some of the best zero waste floss made from silk. Though it is an animal byproduct, it’s cruelty-free and only harvested after the silk worms have abandoned their cocoon. If you still hesitate at the thought of sliding silk between your teeth, their vegan floss replaced silk strands with bamboo fiber infused with organic peppermint oil to serve as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent. The bamboo floss contains additional activated charcoal.
Both kinds make for biodegradable dental floss you can toss in your home compost bin full decomposition within 60-90 days. They contain no preservatives, artificial coloring, or sweeteners and are housed in glass reusable dental floss jars.
ZeroWasteStore.com. are Climate Neutral, deliver plastic-free, and support environmental causes through ZeroWasteStore.com’s 1% For the Planet membership.
My Personal Review of Bamboo Charcoal Floss:
“So, I’ll admit it: I kinda like flossing. My mom was on my case about it all the time when I was a kid, so I guess it rubbed off on me. But honestly, this ZWS floss makes it even better because the silk slides through my teeth without any fraying or getting stuck. It’s also tough enough to get under my permanent retainer, which usually wrecks regular floss.”
Review by Amber McDaniel, SJ’s Head of Content
Georganics
Price Range: $7–$10
Georganics is one of the best zero waste toothpaste brands on the market, and their compostable dental floss follows suit. It’s totally vegan and waste-free, made of 100% corn-based PLA. They claim it’s compostable, but we’re not sure if it’s home compostable or needs to be thrown in an industrial facility.
Choose between three varieties: spearmint, orange, and charcoal (for extra whitening and detoxifying powers). Since these flavors are naturally derived and there is no added fluoride or other synthetics, this dental floss is safe for pregnant women and children as young as those with “2 teeth that touch”.
All come in a refillable glass container with refill options sans the packaging.
Dental Lace
Price Range: $30–$40
We’ll give credit where credit is due: Dental Lace was one of the first award-winning sustainable dental floss options on the market.
They offer a mint flavored non-vegan zero waste floss made of 100% mulberry silk coated in either beeswax or candelilla wax (you can pick between which you’d like to use to pick your teeth). The beeswax variety comes coated in peppermint essential oil, but both are FDA-approved, completely compostable, and free of BPA, PVC, phthalates, and lead.
“Earth forward, fashion friendly”, each floss initially comes in a glass container with fun colored patterns (which encourages reuse even more!). The refillable glass jar is then packaged in a small cardboard box that’s post-consumer recycled, certified FSC and PFC-free, and made using renewable biogas energy.
Inside, the floss is wrapped for hygiene purposes in a plant-based PLA cellophane bag that will break down quickly in industrial composting facilities or in 6–12 months at home.
Dental Lace is manufactured in China at an ISO-certified facility.
TreeBird
Price Range: $20
TreeBird’s non-plastic floss comes with a bit of an ultimatum between zero waste and vegan. If you want something 100% compostable, they make a non-vegan pure silk floss, but their peppermint-flavored vegan charcoal floss is mixed with a small amount of polyester for strength. It’s biodegradable, but not compostable.
If you are set on this kind, the added tensile strength of the polyester means you might at least be able to make it reusable dental floss. If it looks in good shape, try rinsing and using it a couple more times.
Either one comes in your choice of glass or stainless jar, shipped in kraft paper boxes, compostable down to the plant-based sealing stickers and soy ink label.
DIY Eco-Friendly Alternatives To Dental Floss
You can also make your own zero waste floss, too.
One common recommendation we found was to use horse hair as floss. This might be a viable option if you happen to have a horse (or know someone who does), but we’re suspicious of the ethics behind buying horse hair if not.
You can also use non-abrasive thread as DIY floss. Regular cotton thread isn’t ideal because it can break easily and can get stuck. Upcycled silk cloth is ideal, so if you have old clothes like a silk blouse you never wear hanging around in your closet, consider letting it act as your long-time zero waste floss supply. We’ve also heard of hemp clothing being used for floss in the same way but we can’t say we’ve tried that!
Why Choose Eco-Friendly Flossers?
Traditional floss is composed almost entirely of petroleum-based plastic like nylon. That tiny foot long string of plastic might seem innocuous enough, but when you consider the US alone goes through about 3 million miles of floss per year, suddenly those strings add up. If everyone in the US flossed their teeth as the American Dental Association recommends, the discarded plastic containers could fill a football field six stories high annually.
Traditional floss is also coated in a highly toxic substance called PFAS, a subset of perfluorocarbons (PFCs), which are also responsible for some of the most potent greenhouse gas emissions.
Not only does it have a terrible environmental impact, but it’s actually bad for you, too. PFAS, the same thing Teflon is made from, are definitely not something you want that close to your gum line either. A recent study found elevated levels of PFAS in the bloodstream of floss users compared to non-flossers.
For our own sake as well as the planet’s, it’s time we get picky about how we pick our teeth.
Hello
Has anyone found a way to clean under a bridge with floss. I’m trying to replace oral b super floss. Does anyone know of any recycled or eco floss threaders please?
Thanks
Thank you for all your valuable research ! I am trying to find truly biodegradable
Interdental Brush Picks which I need to use because of really tight spaces between my teeth’s ( many implants). I currently use The Doctor’s Brush Picks. …which unfortunately are made entirely of plastic ..but have one advantage: they can be used more than once.
The brand WooBamboo makes such a brush pick, advertised on amazon as “Ecofriendly, BioDegradable, Vegan” …..but has NYLON Bristles !
Someone please invent a replacement for those bristles ..
Totally Marianne, we’d love to see some innovation when it comes to compostable brush picks!
Hello,
I have just come across your post and I think it is great. It is totally what I was looking for: cruelty-free, eco friendly and vegan dental products.
Do you have a list of floss brands that you like? I am a dental hygienist and I would like to move to a more sustainable dental products idea not only for my home but also when patients ask me for recommendations so I could give good advice.
I like to try the products first but I don’t know what brands to buy that follow sustainable principles.
Thanks
I’m from Taiwan, and there’s a brand, agooday, that makes compostable floss out of silk and beeswax. It also comes in compostable/recyclable packaging, and it’s held in a small glass jar with a stainless steel lid/floss cutter. I’m not sure if the silk is cruelty free, however. They also make other sustainable products catered to Taiwanese people, including a boba cup holder to bypass plastic bags at boba shops that doubles as a straw/silverware case, and food-safe pouches that come in various sizes and designs for night market snacking to bypass the paper pouches that vendors use for street food.
One of the marketing points of the agooday floss is that they’re hollow and woven in a way that maintains its structural integrity without needing a center spool, thus reducing waste. I’ve observed this is not the case for every sustainable floss option, and since I couldn’t see if that was the case in the product pictures from the brands in this article, I think it would be a cool detail to include for the next article 🙂
Thanks Jill, very interesting! All the zero waste floss brands I’ve tried come without the spool thankfully so hopefully this is industry standard, seems crazy to have a plastic spool in there so agree super important to check first!
Have you looked into Durapik’s reusable flosser handle and floss? The pick is recycled steel and the floss is vegan and supposedly compostable–not sure if there’s limits/instructions on that.
Thanks Hannah, sounds like a good one to look into – we’ll do so on our next update of this article, thanks so much!
I love that they are using algae for the floss! I don’t know how the harvest it and whether their methods are detrimental to the ecosystem though, but for the moment they are my fav from this post!
I have Durapik floss and holder and do not recommend it!!! It’s a complete disaster, poorly designed and cheaply made. Every kind of floss easily breaks on the Durapik holder or at the very least always becomes loose (and thus inefficient). Plus I generally do not recommend a metal floss holder as it bangs against your teeth and destroys your enamel over time. A good plastic floss holder might just be a better option. I have nothing against the Durapik floss so far.
Thank you for this helpful information! I also wonder if you have any notes on the thickness and durability of these different flosses? I have been having a difficult time finding one that doesn’t break so easily and isn’t too thick.
Hi Anna, we’re personally tried the Floss Pot Gold which was strong and fit nicely in our teeth. Hope that helps!
Have you explored the brand Grin Naturals? I purchased from them and like their product of biodegradable flossers for kids. It gets my kid flossing. I’ve not yet contacted our municipality to see if we could compost them in their system so at the moment they are being tossed. 🙁
Hi Amanda, Thanks for the tip, we haven’t checked Grin Naturals out yet, we’ll take a look next time we update this article. Suggest also emailing the brand to find out exactly what they mean by biodegradeable as that term can be so misleading! Cheers, Joy
Please look into this product. The company is advertising all over the place, but their website provides very little actually information as to “ingredients”.
Thank you for this resource! I’ve been wanting to switch to eco-friendly floss for a while now but my partner loves the very thin, ribbon type of floss and so i’m wondering which of these brands or floss materials are closest to the thin ribbon floss he’s used to?
I need to know too! I will only floss with the thin ribbon stuff!
HI Hannah, did you ever find out which one is like ribbon floss? I would love to know too!
Very Helpful and Informative post.
Have you checked out the company Bite yet? They have plastic free toothpaste tablets, floss, and toothbrushes.
Thanks for the suggestion Mary!
I am so thrilled I found your article! I’ve been trying to make more zero-waste swaps and was having trouble with floss. All the vegan ones were made of plastic and most of the non-plastic ones were made of silk. The bamboo ones I was finding were pricey. Your article has saved me! I can’t wait to try some of these out. Thank you!
nice article and awesome thanks for sharing the article enjoyed the reading
Have you seen Tevra floss? It’s vegan and commercially compostable, made of polylactic acid (PLA) and candelilla wax. I’ve tried it and like it well, though I’m glad to learn of more options! https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Dental-Floss-Refill-TEVRA/dp/B07JY835QF
Thanks Trevor, we hadn’t seen Tevra before but certainly looks worth checking out, we’ll take a look for our next update of this article!
My Floss Friend device is useless and quite painful. I purchased from their website eagerly looking to reduce single use plastic picks. It takes a while to string each use and doesn’t keep tension for more than a tooth or two. What’s worse, they don’t respond to emails asking to return, which is why I am taking the time to write this review, to warn others.
Oh no! That’s disappointing, thanks for the heads up! This feels like a wasted opportunity on their part.
Thanks – your reviews are brilliant and I’m amazed at how many different products you find.
The one comment I have ( which is more of a feedback for the manufacturers) is that we don’t all necessarily want a flavor on our floss! I use a natural silk floss which is unfortunately packaged in plastic but it is the ONLY unflavored one I can find. I’d love to buy more sustainably packaged floss but just can’t stomach the flavors.
Totally! Agree with you there, plain floss all the way! We’ve been using the flosspot brand (first one on this list) and it’s not flavoured, nor does it come in plastic. Not sure if that’s accessible where you are?
Thank You for your support of our little
http://www.flosspot.com
it means so much that many are now creating flosses that are compostable and refillable. Always check certification for authenticity but to be honest any that contain less than 100% plastic are an improvement overall🙏🏽
Refill for life-all life. Kathryn Hogan..Flosspot Founder 2015