I know, I know I have a ton of stuff to write about following the 2010 US Sailboat Show in Annapolis last week. But this one just came to me and I’m in between meetings so I need to get it posted before it slips my mind.
While trying to remove lunch leftovers from in between my teeth (I know, too much information, just stay with me, there is a point to this) I had another thought regarding dealing with trash while cruising. Now this topic is more far reaching than just dental floss but that’s what I’m dealing with at the moment. While flossing, I began to think about where, on the boat, would we put items like used dental floss. This stuff is definitely not earth friendly. A lot of the floss out there is made out of PTFE (think, teflon) and a lot is made out of nylon, etc. etc. etc. You get my point. This stuff doesn’t biodegrade. In an effort to look at items that we use every day and would continue to use while on the boat I look closely at what we can either A) reuse over and over again and not have to throw away. B) Is made out of organic compounds and either composts quickly or simply dissolves/breaks down in nature. Or C) Can eliminate all together and just no longer use. Dental floss currently is none of these.
A quick search on Google points me in a couple of directions. One of which is a dental pick who’s handle is made from starch based materials and is supposed to degrade into biomass within 180 days. The actual floss part however, is another story. While made of a recyclable material it isn’t biodegradable. Beyond that there’s not a whole lot out there. I ran across one article that talked about an organic floss that is made out of rice but I have yet to find it.
Anyway, you get my drift now. This is one less thing that we would have to worry about throwing away. This is important first and formost for the environment and second, space for trash on a boat is quite limited.
I’ll keep searching and let ya know what I find out.