Public Goods Dental Floss Review 2020 | Zero-Waste Refillable Dental Floss
The Top Line:
This is a high quality floss that checks many of the boxes for usability, quality and waste reduction. There is a free two week trial for the Public Goods membership which can be cancelled at any time, but we are not thrilled at idea of being forced into one brand just yet. So, while it is not really worth $59/year for just the floss we love, Public Goods does offer a wide array of products that include other personal and home care items, which all seem reasonably priced. Public Goods Floss, highly recommend buy. This one of the easiest zero-waste switches we’ve made to date. Membership is worth it if one switches all dental products (and maybe a couple other things) to Public Goods.
The Breakdown:
Cost: Without accounting for the membership, the price is reasonable at $2.50 for the glass package with one 30m roll. For refills, it is $5.50 for three rolls.
Products: Initial purchase is one glass canister with the floss cutter (love it!) and one spool of floss. Refills are three per purchase.
How ‘Clean’ Is This? Biodegradable ingredients and natural fragrance. Glass and metal casing, packaged in paper. Refill bags are plastic. Public Goods discloses the ingredients of all of its wares, including whether each is paraben-free, natural fragrance, lacks sulfates among several other distinctions. Aside from the plastic refill case, this floss gets high scores from us with its limitation of plastic products, ability to reuse the glass container, and fabrication of compostable silk.
Product: The floss does not shred and it is better than most of the drugstore brands we’ve used! We found the process of refilling is easy.
The package of three refills is n a plastic case, but it’s wayyy less plastic than the typical drugstore brand.
Purchasing & Shipping: The website is cleanly designed to navigate and ordering is a straightforward. The free shipping threshold seems a little on the high side at a minimum of $45. We wish it was more like $25 or the membership fee was waived in lieu of higher individual prices for products. Paying for shipping a la carte seems a little on the high side to us as well — almost $10 to ship to Los Angeles.
Good to Know: Public Goods spends R&D money on sustainable and functional alternatives to the plastic that is currently used. Also, their blog is eye opening, and shows how much care is put into the products, like this one about floss!
Coupons: Two-week free membership, included for first-time orders. Additional $10 off first time orders when you subscribe to their newsletter.
What’s Your Impact? Your reduction in plastics, micro-plastics, and harmful chemicals. Most commercial floss is made from some type of nylon and are coated in a potentially dangerous PFC-laden wax. If you floss regularly, you eliminate almost five plastic floss holders from piling up in the landfills per year.
It may not sound like a lot, but to us, the quality of this floss and the comparable cost to our previous brands make our switch to silk floss worth it.
The Cost:
Context: Spent some time working in a dental office, so I’ve sampled the mainstream brands of floss like Oral B, Reach, and Glide.
We calculated based on using the recommended 18” of floss per use and assumed you flossed once every day! Each 30m floss would last you approx 67 days.
Public Goods Floss
$2.50 for the initial floss with glass case; $5.50 for three refills. Yearly Cost: $10.70Georganics Silk Floss
$7 for the initial floss with glass case; $9 for only two refills Yearly Cost: $27.14Wowe Silk Floss
$10.64 for the two initial flosses with glass case; $10.64 for five refills. Yearly Cost: $18.03Reach
$1.79 for one plastic floss. Annual Cost: $5.88Glide
$5.79 for a two-pack. Annual Cost $11.89
Money Thoughts: Ok, it is not as cheap as Reach, which is both made of plastic and housed in a plastic case, Public is the next cheapest option. In fact, Public Goods Floss was the cheapest earth-friendly options we could find — great deal.
The Good:
✔ $2.50 for the floss + glass canister; $5.50 for three refills - cheaper than every other eco option & even conventional flosses
✔ Tough floss, strong enough for our tight contact teeth with some dental work
✔ Flavor is a gentle peppermint
✔ Floss cutter works well and the floss does not shred
✔ Glass bottle is clean and doesn’t get as dirty like the plastic alternative
✔ The silk material is biodegradable and compostable at home or facilities versus traditional nylon plastic floss
✔ The wax is a natural wax as opposed to a PFC-based wax on typical floss
The Bad:
✗ Plastic bag for refills
✗ For Vegans, this is made of silk
✗ The annual membership for those who may not want to commit (first two weeks free, thereafter $59/year)
✗ High free shipping threshold ($45)
Our Recommendation:
Should you buy it? Yes! Public Goods Floss is high quality and the company green-substitutes as much as possible without sacrificing functionality and convenience (we’re looking a you, paper straws). If you plan to replace a few consistent items with Public Goods products, then we think the membership is worth it.
We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!
