We started to pay more attention to what we were buying in our weekly shop, making better choices about packaging and choosing non-plastic alternatives when available. This was 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. We buy three or four of these a year we thought - how many is that over a lifetime? We didn’t buy toothbrushes that day and started to research non-plastic options, but there were none in New Zealand.

So we created Go Bamboo with natural toothbrushes using bamboo as an environmentally friendly raw material. They were pretty popular and we thought, why couldn’t bamboo be used instead of plastic in more disposable items? We expanded our range to include other household items like pegs,veggie brushes and cotton buds, and are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to provide simple and sustainable alternatives to the little things we all use every day.

Go Bamboo won the waste minimisation section of the2012 Green Ribbon Awards, which honour outstanding contribution to protecting New Zealand’s environment.