By Elizabeth Elkin
Lindsay McCormick used to be a surf instructor who would watch as trash piled up along the beaches of Malibu. When her career shifted to TV production and she had to travel, she kept a toiletry kit full of refillable bottles to cut down on plastic. The one thing she couldn’t find a refillable version of: toothpaste.
After doing some research, she decided to make her own toothpaste tablets — you pop one in your mouth, bite down on it, start brushing with a wet toothbrush, and it turns into a paste similar to one you’d squeeze out of a tube. She thought she’d make them just for herself, her family and her friends. But once she realized how expensive a tablet-forming machine would be, she decided to set up an online shop and sell her product, just to pay off the equipment costs.
That was the beginning of Bite. The toothpaste startup soon expanded to mouthwash tablets, plastic-free floss, 100% plant-based toothbrushes and whitening gel. The products come with recyclable glass containers and aluminum lids, both of which can be reused, and refills are distributed in compostable pouches. Customers are buying dental…
