Lush, the high street retailer and maker of fresh hand-made cosmetics, are concerned about the waste from traditional toothpaste dispensers. Most toothpaste tubes and modern fangled pumps end up in landfill so Lush have come up with a simple solution - Toothy Tabs.

Just open up the cardboard box, pop a toothy tab in your mouth, crunch it up, brush with a wetted brush and voila - clean teeth and no waste.

We've long been fans of the Tom's of Maine deodorant sticks because of the company's ethics and great products but someone said the other day:

"Why don't you try one of those crystals?"

How did this one slip by the radar?
Colgate Palmolive, once knocked by Tom's for putting artificial ingredients & sweeteners like saccharin in their toothpaste, paid $100 million cash for an 84% stake in the Kennebunk, Maine based business. However, Tom Chappell, the man himself, said that neither Tom's of Maine's business philosophy nor its product lines would change despite the majority share of Colgate.

With annual sales of around $50 million, Tom's will remain a stand-alone subsidiary of Colgate, though the familiar packaging will make no reference to its new owner.

Well, the Green People fennel toothpaste ran out, so it was nice to find the Tom's of Maine spearmint toothpaste on the shelves again. This time we've gone for their "nature's antiplaque toothpaste with propolis & myrrh".

As with the green people paste it contains no fluoride and doesn't have that super-sugary taste that affects so many of the usual household brands.

Anita Roddick's world-famous ethical The Body Shop chain is in the hands of the French cosmetics giant L'Oréal after a deal was agreed worth £652m.

L'Oréal, the world's biggest cosmetics company, who are part-owned (25%) by Nestlé, the world's biggest food company, agreed to pay 300p a share for stock worth 268p a share.

After 30 years of selling ethically-sourced cosmetics with 2000 stores in 53 countries, Dame Roddick and her husband, who still hold an 18% share in The Body Shop, are expected to make around £140m out of the sell-out.

Why smell like 99% of the country’s brainwashed adolescents when you can be really different and smell far more fruity? Getting a bottle of Tomato Cologne for Christmas was most welcome and this little bottle of “pomme d’amor†fragrance from Burt’s Bees is genuinely cool - No excessive packaging, no gift-pack waste, no mass-market “appeal†or ludicrous adverts, just a little glass bottle with a label on a string.

Here's another item I picked up when I was in the USA last - Unscented natural deodorant from Tom's of Maine. Being in stick form, there's obviously no harmful propellants, and no aluminium sulphate, which is known to be harsh and often cause allergic reactions.

Tom's use only good old fashioned natural stuff - lichen, aloe vera leaf juice, witch hazel, coriander... It's good for your skin, stops odour and keeps your conscience clean at the same time.

When I was in the USA last year I picked up a tube of natural gel spearmint toothpaste from Tom's of Maine. When it ran out the other day I went to the local Sainsbury's and was confronted with a huge display of colourful packs of toothpaste... but alas no Tom's.