What is toothpaste made of?
Toothpaste takes 7 things directly, among them limestone, silica sand, water, glycerin, titanium dioxide and polyethylene. Trace them back and you pass 20 made things on the way to 15 raw materials.
How toothpaste is made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 15 raw materials
- Limestone goes straight in
- Silica sand goes straight in
- Water goes straight in
- Titanium ore through titanium dioxide
- Oil palm fruit through glycerin, palm oil
- Soybeans through glycerin, vegetable oil
- Rapeseed through glycerin, vegetable oil
- Clay through glycerin, vegetable oil
- Rock salt through glycerin, caustic soda
- Natural gas through glycerin, methanol
- Coal through titanium dioxide, coke
- Air through titanium dioxide, sulfuric acid
- Sulfur through titanium dioxide, sulfuric acid
- Crude oil through aluminum foil, aluminum
- Bauxite through aluminum foil, aluminum, alumina
Made along the way: 16 things
Metals 3
Chemicals and fuels 11
Caustic sodaMethanolChlorineOxygen gasSulfuric acidEthyleneHexaneNaphthaPetroleum cokeHydrogenQuicklime
Food 2
What it is packed in
On the line, but left out of everything above, because it holds the finished thing rather than goes into it.