CLEAR BLUE SMILES™ partners with TERRACYCLE® to recycle clear aligners

Clear Blue Smiles™, the leading innovator in clear aligner treatment technology, unveils its partnership with TerraCycle®, an international recycling bigshot to enable consumers to recycle their used clear aligners.

“We are looking forward to offering a truly comprehensive recycling program for clear aligners for our doctors and their patients,” said Kevin Dillard, CEO of Clear Blue Smiles™. “Removing plastic that we create from the environment is a vital component of our pledge to leave things better than we found them.”

The Clear Blue Smiles Free Recycling Program enables consumers to now send in their old and used Clear Blue Smiles clear aligners to be recycled with a free pre-paid shipping label. Once these aligners are collected by TerraCycle®, they are cleaned, sorted by material type, and broken down into materials that can be reconditioned to make new products.

Why should we care about recycling aligners?

According to orthodontic literature, clear aligners are mostly manufactured out of two raw materials: polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG). Other materials such as polypropylene, polycarbonate, thermoplastic polyurethane, and ethylene vinyl acetate are also widely used.

Various standardized tests and methodologies conducted by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), however, suggest that for a polymer to be classified as “biodegradable” material, more than 60-70% of the original material must degrade within 6 months.

PET polymers, unfortunately, are unable to meet this condition and therefore, are classified as non-biodegradable thermoplastic materials. Reports even estimate that it would take at least 500 to 700 years to completely degrade!

Why is this initiative important?

Clear Blue Smiles™ displays on its website they are passionate about leaving things better than it found them, be it their consumers’ smiles or the environment. Launching this recycling program marks a groundbreaking initiative for Clear Blue Smiles’ collection of accolades as the existing sustainability efforts in the dental industry have been lacking.

TerraCycle® strives to recycle any plastic items that are typically hard to recycle. For this Clear Blue Smiles Free Recycling Program, they are accepting only Clear Blue Smiles™ aligners.

Once the aligners are collected, they are sorted and separated by size, gravity, and other techniques to aid in handling. Then they are weighed and cleaned thoroughly. Then using specialized processes, they are converted to raw materials that can be used to manufacture a multitude of utensils, furniture, containers, shipping equipment, appliances for construction, and many more.

The Impact and Clear Blue Smile’s other initiatives

The impact of this initiative and Through this initiative, Clear Blue Smiles™ has successfully created the first-ever set of environmental guidelines for the dental industry.

That being said, this is not Clear Blue Smile’s first rodeo in the environmentally-friendly realm. In fact, the company has been a thriving advocate of sustainability way before 2020. Their eco-friendly packaging uses biodegradable materials whose production requires fewer resources.

They have also previously partnered with Ocean Blue Project, an Oregon-based national non-profit cleanup organization to pledge to remove 100 times the amount of plastic used in aligner treatment from streams, rivers, and oceans.

Additionally, Clear Blue Smiles™ also collaborated with Dorsal Bracelets, a Charleston-based company that sells bracelets, and pledged that for each one sold, a pound of plastic would be removed from the environment.

About Clear Blue Smiles

Clear Blue Smiles™ was the brainchild of Kevin Dillard, former General Counsel of the American Association of Orthodontists, and William Crutchfield II, DDS, a practicing orthodontist. They were founded with a vision of establishing the highest level of standard of care for orthodontic patients in a remote setting. They also commit to positively impacting the environment through their clear aligner systems.

About TerraCycle®

TerraCycle®, a private U.S.-based recycling business was founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky and Jon Beyer. Originally, their business model centered around collecting empty soda bottles, filling them with worm castings, and packaging organic fertilizer in these bottles for sale. Later it diversified into upcycling waste items from big-name brands like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Target, and Wal-Mart.

Takeaway

Clear Blue Smiles™ is leading by example. They are rigorously working to reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the environment through their sustainable packaging and by funding river, lake, and beach cleanups nationwide. We hope other orthodontic aligner brands also establish their stance on promoting sustainability.

PlusSmile® hopes to join this alliance. We commit to providing high-quality patient care while also keeping a focus on reducing our carbon footprint, ultimately reducing the negative impact that the dental industry has on the environment.