Ex-ad men selling recyclable toothbrush come up smiling

MARK RUSHMORE and Gyve Safavi spent the first half of their careers at consumer goods giants focusing on flogging us more stuff. Working at Procter & Gamble, Safavi concentrated on selling more razors, Rushmore on making us all eat more Pringles

- Lucy Tobin

Between them, their next roles included working with marketing maestro Sir Martin Sorrell at WPP and on digital branding to lure Britons to buy more.

Now their start-up SURI, a wellbeing brand whose first product is a recyclable electric toothbrush, feels like atonement for all their plastic-pushing.

“This can be the last electric toothbrush you ever need to buy,” says Rushmore, 40. “The market is oversaturated with expensive, gimmicky, clunky electric toothbrushes, with no regard for our planet. Four billion toothbrushes are thrown away worldwide each year, and almost all models are not recyclable. Every toothbrush you’ve ever owned still exists. After a decade working in personal care, we came up against a monopolised industry that we strongly felt could be disrupted.”

The duo had met on a boat at the Cannes Lions ad festival; both were interested in sustainability, unimpressed with what their employers were doing and agreed to stay in touch.