[yourapostasy]

With enough cleaning solvents and disinfectants, any object can be made safe again. There are people who dive into literal sewage retention ponds full of human waste in full SCUBA gear every day to work (clearing obstructions). After reading about that, squeamishness was never an issue for me. As long as it isn't some kind of chemical/biological/radiological warfare agent type substance, or a compound that makes chemists run from a room, I'm fine with it now.

That said, I'm absolutely delighted that toilet brushes can be rebristled, and sad that it seems there isn't any place in the US that does this. It irks me that when a brush is retired, a gigantic chunk of plastic heads into the landfill. I have yet to find a low-impact scrubbing solution, and rebristling with some organic-origin bristle that breaks down amending the soil would be ideal. I'd pay 2-3X the cost of a normal throwaway plastic brush to mail in a brush head and get back a rebristled brush head, and wonder if the rebristling could be automated.

[reaperducer]

It irks me that when a brush is retired, a gigantic chunk of plastic heads into the landfill.

I feel this way about toothbrushes. They've gotten very expensive and seem to be designed to last only a month or two.

I picked up a couple of eco-friendly ones in the supermarket recently. They're made of bamboo. They're also crap. Now I'm back on the plastic toothbrush treadmill.

[yonaguska]

I keep my old toothbrushes for cleaning various things so at least I can re-use them. Bicycle chains, baseboards, bathroom tiles, etc.

[reaperducer]

Yeah, I do that for cleaning grout. But the amount of grout to clean in my house is dwarfed by my used toothbrush supply. I wish they could at least be recycled.

[yourapostasy]

There are other uses for old toothbrushes [1], but I'm with you: I want the only parts that get tossed be the bristles themselves, ideally as a soil amendment (not as plastic nanoparticles that end up inside our food chain). It is very annoying plastics are used for only a tiny fraction of their lifecycles, and spend most of their lifecycle polluting our raw resources.

Interestingly, there is a company that rebristles antique brushes and also sells toothbrushes [2]. No idea if they rebristle toothbrushes.

Blizzident [3] sells an interesting product for $340, rebristles for $90, and you have to spend up to $200 to get a dental impression because the Blizzident is custom fit to each user [4]. Verified experience seems sparse on the ground [5], [6], and actual controlled study seems non-existent.

[1] https://experthometips.com/22-uses-for-used-toothbrush

[2] https://kentbrushes.com/bodycare/handmade-toothbrushes

[3] http://www.blizzident.com

[4] https://newatlas.com/blizzident-toothbrush/29264/

[5] https://www.reddit.com/r/Dentistry/comments/aco59q/product_r...

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15JlKqoU4cI

[rezeroed]

If you start putting used toilet brushes in the post, I will no longer accept any mail. Are you not confusing biodegradable with repair? Wooden brushes with bamboo bristles or something instead of poo post?

[zrobotics]

You do know that all sorts of unpleasant things are sent through the post, correct? A neighbor of ours when I was growing up literally shipped bull semen, that was a large part of their business.

And sewage is regularly sent through the mail as well, many municipal sewage-treatment plants ship samples to specialized labs for analysis. Toilet-brushes are far from the most disgusting things sent through the mail, and unless you clean your toilet without flushing any waste in the bowl first they aren't even that dirty. Considering the prevalence of sanitizing toilet cleaner, it wouldn't surprise me if the average brush is cleaner than the door handles of a public restroom.

[robk]

In many countries medical feces samples as sent back to a lab. I'm sure end users are careless and messy when they send them too!

[SyneRyder]

You've probably not heard of the Australian Government's free bowel cancer screening program then, mailed out to everyone aged 50-74:

https://www.cancer.nsw.gov.au/how-we-help/screening-and-earl...

[systemtest]

I have a European toilet (one that is not filled to the brim with water) and I clean it by putting bleach in the bowl and leaving it overnight. I then put the toilet brush inside the drain pipe submerging it in the water/bleach mixture. By doing this I can use a single brush for years with it being brand new.

Also, when you flush and wipe the skidmarks from the bowl, use the flowing water to immediately clean the brush. Don't put it away with poo in the bristles.

[rezeroed]

Everyone talks about how advanced the Japanese toilets are. I think the Japanese are focussing on the wrong aspect - I would prefer efforts were put into toilets cleaning themselves rather than backsides.

[amelius]

> I clean it by putting bleach in the bowl

But if your neighbors flush vinegar down the toilet, it will react into chlorine in the sewer.

[pnutjam]

I thought it was ammonia and bleach that should never be mixed.

[novok]

Isn't bleach used in a lot of laundry cleaning already, so it's a bit inevitable that bleach & vinegar would end up in the sewer system?

[daemin]

What does vinegar + bleach do exactly? It sounds like something I don't want to try at home.

[benzene]

A mix of sodium acetate, oxygen, and chlorine gas results. The first two items aren't an issue, but the third... Let's just advise against mixing anything with bleach unless you have a pressing need to recreate WWI chemical warfare in your bathroom

[tropo]

It's a good thing. Bleach by itself is an inefficient disinfectant. You need a lot, which is wasteful. Adding a bit of vinegar to change the pH will make the chlorine much more available for disinfecting.

I used to keep a bottle pre-mixed. It won't last very long though, so mixing before use is better.