NOICE Dental gel has revolutionised the toothpaste industry and provided a sustainable alternative to the 1.5 billion plastic toothpaste tubes that end up in landfill every year. Sublime talks to co-founder Morgane Soret to find out more.
NOICE have carefully crafted a brand-new sustainable toothpaste. Its unique gel formula is packaged in glass bottles rather than plastic tubes. NOICE keeps sustainability at the heart of their company, so they developed a toothpaste that was good for both you and the planet.
Sublime: What encouraged you to find a natural, sustainable alternative to the toothpaste we know?
Morgane Soret: We all use toothpaste daily, several times a day – three times a day if we follow the dentist recommendation – and if you look closer to the ingredient list, there are few ingredients, perhaps even none, that you can recognise. If you look deeper and research, you realise most of those ingredients are synthetical and controversial.
On top of that, conventional toothpaste comes in a non-recyclable plastic tube. 1.5 billion of these end up in landfill annually! Scary, right? And it takes up to 500 years for a plastic tube to break down. When it breaks down eventually, it is into tiny micro bits of plastic that we can’t see but that are here, everywhere, polluting our planet and oceans.
This is why we started NOICE. Co- founder, Clement was on a personal journey to a more organic lifestyle, and he had switched in the past to natural personal care products (body wash, shampoo, etc.) and to an organic and plant-based diet. Toothpaste was a challenge, to find one that would be natural while tasting good and fresh.
On my side, I was on a personal journey toward a zero-waste lifestyle and determined to remove any single-use plastic from my home and consuming habits. Back then, I used powder toothpaste, which was ok for me, but my partner would never use it as the experience did not feel as clean or fresh.
We met at this time and decided to create a toothpaste, together with our two other co-founders Max and Val. We wanted to create a toothpaste that will be healthy, efficient in cleaning and preserving teeth and will not create waste. A toothpaste which is good for the people and good for the planet.
So here is NOICE, an all-natural and zero-waste, anti-plaque charcoal toothpaste that we like to call a ‘dental gel to kiss toothpaste (in a tube) goodbye’!
S: What ingredients does NOICE choose to skip on that are found in well-known toothpaste brands? And what are the positives to the formula NOICE uses?
MS: We worked with our formulator and with dentists to replace each and every ingredient of conventional toothpaste with a natural alternative. We carefully selected ingredients for their specific properties in oral care as well as their great tastes.
We are using tea tree and eucalyptus oil, which are anti-bacterial and anti-plaque. In addition, we are using the power of liquorice to fight the bacteria responsible for cavities. We also added charcoal as a stain remover.
Each and every ingredient is natural and here for a specific purpose. You won’t find any controversial ingredients such as SLS, Triclosan or artificial colouring or sweetener.
The result is a very fresh botanical taste, which leaves your teeth ‘squeaky clean’ from our brusher feedback!
S: How does NOICE approach sustainability in a fun and playful way?
MS: Sustainability at its heart is not a fun topic. The urgency and the need to change our daily habits is more than ever here. However, as consumers ourselves, we often feel the pressure on our shoulders, which can sometimes be very heavy.
As brand owners and entrepreneurs at NOICE, our purpose is to make sustainability accessible, light-hearted and straightforward! Also, the team is working very hard every day on helping NOICE to clean up the planet and all the teeth in it – we like to do it with a smile and cheesy jokes!
We do this because it is easier to work around daily, keeps us in a good mood, and because we truly think that the change needs to come from brands, innovators, and entrepreneurs to transform sustainability from trend to everyday practice.
S: What persuaded NOICE to provide a subscription service?
MS: The subscription model fulfills one of our company values, Accessibility.
What we mean by accessible covers a few areas. In terms of experience/taste, our dental gel and the other oral care products we will develop in the future will always be a delight to use. In terms of price, we aim to be as affordable as we can and improving the affordability along the way. Because ultimately, it is with more NOICE brushers that we will have an even more positive impact. Finally, accessible in our distribution. Subscription models allow you to be super flexible but also practical. Once you subscribe, you do not have to worry about running low on toothpaste because we send refills automatically to your doorstep. On the other hand, you can always pause, skip or cancel at any time.
The subscription model allows us to create a world where having a positive impact is as easy as brushing our teeth!
S: Why did you choose glass as your plastic tube alternative? And would you consider using anything else?
MS: We chose glass over plastic tubes because it isn’t derived from fossil fuels, is easier to clean and recycle, and doesn’t break down into harmful microplastics that pollute our oceans and harm marine ecosystems.
The recycling rate of glass in the UK is 68.8% vs 30% for plastic. And if not recycled, glass comes back to being sand at the end of its lifecycle.
We were also the first toothpaste to be sold and to partner with the LOOP company. Customers return refill bottles in pre-paid packaging back to LOOP, where they get washed and returned to us for refilling. This keeps our glass bottles in circulation and eliminates the simple idea of waste.
We are currently looking for a sustainable refill packaging solution that is home compostable.
As a sustainable oral care brand, our aim is always to keep innovating to ensure the best in-mouth experience with the most regenerative actions on our planet.
S: Could you explain the different taste and texture NOICE has compared to generic toothpaste?
MS: You would need to give it a try yourself! Sustainability champion did an honest review of the NOICE experience if you want to read more details.
We realised by creating NOICE that we were all used to the conventional toothpaste taste, but we did not particularly enjoy this taste; we just got used to it. So, when crafting NOICE with our formulator and dentists, we put special attention to the taste. This is consumer feedback we often receive – now, with NOICE, they actually enjoy the taste.
In terms of texture, NOICE is a gel very close to the paste of conventional toothpaste. The pump delivers just the right amount on your toothbrush. Because it is slightly more liquid than the traditional toothpaste, it dives directly into the bristles. It stops toothpaste falling in the sink, as this sometimes happens with too much conventional toothpaste on the brush.
The colour is black thanks to the charcoal we use for its well-known whitening actions. However, when brushing, the black colour disappears and rinses perfectly. The smell and taste is very botanical thanks to the oil we use, eucalyptus, liquorice & menthol. You feel very clean and fresh after brushing, and this lasts throughout the day.
One remarkable fact is that you can eat your croissant or drink a glass of wine right after brushing. We made sure to get rid of the weird taste you usually get after brushing! So, make the test and tell me how your orange juice tastes right after brushing with NOICE.
S: Does the packaging and shipping reflect the brand values?
MS: With our glass bottle, we offer an all-natural alternative to the 1.5 billion toothpaste plastic tubes that end up in the landfill yearly. It comes in fully FSC-certified cardboard that is also recyclable. And the subscriptions are shipped locally with Royal Mail.
S: What are your priorities for NOICE in the future?
MS: So many! Right now, is one of the most exciting times for us as a company growing and being able to see our customer feedback is great!
Of course, our main priority keeps to making sustainable behaviour easy, simple and light-hearted and always keeping a touch of humour. We aim to release more oral care essentials as per the need of our growing community. We will always listen to our brushers, deeply understand their needs and paint points to propose sustainable solutions.
We aim to keep on monitoring and reducing our carbon footprint as well as ensure our regenerative impact on our planet. I just became a mum so I’d love to develop a NOICE kids’ formula, too.
About the Writer
Emily Bowles is a young fashion journalist with a passion for social and environmental issues. She likes to explore the culture surrounding sustainable lifestyle, especially ethical fashion. She is currently studying final year at Southampton Solent University.
