Poppits Toothpaste Pods Eliminate Empty Tube Waste

Many people are becoming more conscious of how much waste they produce, and that awareness leads to a secondary issue: we realize how many things in life lack a less-wasteful alternative, and toothpaste is one such thing. Sure, you could concoct homemade (and therefore packaging-free) toothpaste at home out of baking soda and some other ingredients, but it's going to taste vile. The alternative? Possibly, if its crowdfunding campaign is successful, it'll be the Poppits toothpaste pods.

If you've ever used a laundry or dishwasher detergent pod, you'll already have an idea of how Poppits work — they're single-dose toothpaste pods made of cellulose, and they'll dissolve when exposed to water. Put one on your toothbrush, get it wet, then stick it in your mouth and start brushing.

Why use something like Poppits? Because regular toothpaste comes in tubes, and those tubes, once empty, are thrown away, only to spend the next 500 or so years slowly decomposing in a landfill somewhere. Poppits seems a little strange at first because it's different, but the idea that a tube of toothpaste you used as a kid will still be in a landfill a few hundred years after your death is stranger.

The company behind Poppits is seeking funding on Kickstarter, where they've so far raised about $39,000 of their $50k goal. A pledge of $12 will get backers a pack of whitening pods, which are anticipated to ship to backers in October of this year. There is also a kids version available that appears to come in three colors with three fruit flavors.