What is Carbon Neutrality?

Committing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), TePe set a carbon neutrality target in our self-produced products and packaging in 2022. We have lowered our carbon footprint significantly and are able to offer a complete oral care range produced in a sustainable way. Carbon neutrality is accomplished when you have absorbed as much carbon dioxide as you have given off during the life of a product.

By assessing our carbon footprint, we can know our environmental impact. We must consider the entire life cycle of a product from the raw materials and how it is manufactured to how it is being disposed. During this Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) we can calculate the Global Warming Potential (GWP) to assess how much greenhouse gases are released and absorbed.

TePe’s LCA shows the most critical factors in reducing our Carbon footprint: materials, energy, transport, and waste management (where our estimation assumes the worst-case global warming scenario). Since materials are an area within our control, we have started phasing out fossil raw materials in our production.

It’s a constant challenge to find and try out the best materials possible, keeping up the high product quality and using the existing production equipment. However, we have now managed to shift to sustainable materials in most TePe-made products, which has had a considerable impact on emissions. We have introduced ISCC certified material through the mass balance approach, and this has lowered the carbon footprint of our interdental brushes’ plastic handles by approximately 80%. In addition, we have improved packaging, aiming to reach 100% recycled or renewable packaging materials in 2025.

Within production we are consistently reviewing our materials and methods of production. As you would expect from our Scandinavian heritage, we take our impact on the environment very seriously and only launch new products when they meet the stringent high-quality standards. We are well on our way and very proud of being a worldwide leader in this endeavor for oral care products.