How did Bambuu Brush come about?

Myself and my co-founder Rebecca have lived around the world, working in social media and sustainability.  In that time we’ve dramatically seen the increase of plastic pollution all over the world. Since we both had a sizable following, we wanted to use our platforms to inspire people to make simple changes. When we decided to launch the business, we had no business backgrounds or environmental science backgrounds or even any investment. We started with a bamboo toothbrush, mainly because it was cheap to produce and it was sustainable. We launched in February 2019 with a crazy goal - #1Millionby2020. The goal was to inspire and sell 1 million toothbrushes. We wanted to sell a million toothbrushes from my mum and dad's bedroom, before the turn of the decade, and we had 10 months to do it. I am very proud to say that we achieved this within 9 months, which still blows my mind. ‍

You’re now more than just toothbrushes. Tell us about your new range.‍

When COVID hit, we were just a bamboo toothbrush company with all of our energy in the travel industry with partnerships with Virgin Atlantic and a few large Hotel groups. Obviously the travel industry turned upside down overnight, so we pivoted to create a range of products to accelerate our message. We researched the top-10 ocean polluters and then found eco-alternatives. Reusable water bottles, coffee mugs, bamboo and stainless steel straws, lunch boxes, cotton buds, and disposable cutlery.  We now have 8 products linked to the top-10 ocean pollutants. The only ones we haven't been able to tick off are cigarette butts, car tyres and fishing nets.

‍What’s your favourite product and why?‍

I've got two favourites, my first is the coffee mug. It doesn’t leak and it looks incredible, and it was the hardest to develop - we had 19 prototypes! Secondly, the cotton earbuds. The whole thing can just go straight into compost, and even the packaging is made from bamboo. I never thought I'd be a cotton bud salesman…

‍Your slogan is ‘One Simple Change.’ Can you expand on this idea more? ‍

We are not experts in environmentalism or business, nor are we eco-warriors. However, we believe that there's so much power in making simple changes. One simple change, multiplied by millions, and we can change the world. I think this idea is powerful, and if we can inspire people to think that way then there’s so much impact to be made. For instance, we have sold close to 1.6 million bamboo toothbrushes, which is amazing. The average toothbrush weighs 20 grams. 20 grams multiplied by 1.6 million equates to 32,000 kilos of plastic that we stopped entering commercial circulation. That shows that one simple change, on a global scale, has a huge impact. ‍

How has the use of social media impacted the growth of Bambuu Brush?‍

Myself and Rebecca both had a following on social media as we documented our travelling, and we had a very loyal following. We wanted to use our platforms in a positive way, which led us to launching the business. We had no money so we launched our #1MillionBy2020 campaign on social media, and used our customers to spread the message. We didn't want models holding these toothbrushes, we wanted everyday people showing that, wherever they are in the world, they can make one simple change and inspire people. We were lucky enough to also have some pretty famous people posing with the toothbrushes as well, which contributed to the snowball effect. We have never put any money into advertising, everything has been organic. The Virgin Atlantic contract came from someone in the buying team seeing our posts, and the same with Selfridges. The algorithm is crazy, but if you can be consistent, that's the only way to do it. ‍

You recently turned 2. What are your biggest learnings?‍

Open-mindedness. Last year, we had a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve. We just wanted to be a company with one product and utilise that one simple change message, but we had to adapt, and that adaptability has opened so many doors for us.‍

‍You are starting to focus on partnering with businesses in addition to selling direct-to-consumer. How will that work?‍

Our current goal is to set up simple recycling facilities in developing countries to help communities deal with their own waste, and we want to scale this globally. Simply put, all of our products fund our projects. Our big push this year is to develop partnerships with companies who will purchase our products on a custom or co-branded basis to deliver to whoever they want. The funds will then go towards the projects that we are working on. There're so many companies out there charging an absolute fortune for some boring presentations and slides around sustainability. We can really inspire employees to go out and do something, starting with one simple change. We aren’t eco-warriors, and we're a corporation talking about sustainability, we’re somewhere in the middle, and that can actually produce impact and action for employees. So that's a big focus this year, to fund our incredible projects in partnership with businesses.