Colgate Debuts World's First Recyclable Toothpaste Tube Thanks to As You Sow Engagement
Due to As You Sow’s pioneering engagement efforts, last month Colgate-Palmolive Co., which dominates the oral care market, began shipping the first toothpaste tube recognized as recyclable by plastics recyclers. The company started conversion to recyclable tubes with its Tom’s of Maine brand, and is changing production equipment to convert all brands over the next several years.
Toothpaste tubes have never been recyclable at scale; they are made from a combination of different plastics, often wrapped around a thin layer of aluminum, making it impossible to recycle through conventional methods. An estimated 400 million toothpaste tubes are discarded every year in the U.S., and at least 1.5 billion globally.
Colgate has a 42 percent share of the $26 billion global toothpaste market. Back in 2013, before plastic pollution became a household word, As You Sow was already on the case — pressing major companies like Colgate, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever to make their product packaging recyclable. We withdrew a shareholder proposal to Colgate in exchange for a series of dialogues.
Instead of keeping us at arm’s length as many companies do, Colgate management invited us to meet with its global design and engineering team to discuss the feasibility of making all its packaging recyclable. It’s a big challenge with many types of packaging to convert. In addition to making toothpaste, the company owns popular consumer brands including Palmolive dish detergent, Speed Stick deodorant, Ajax cleaner, and Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
Our engagement culminated in a 2014 commitment by the company to make all packaging recyclable for three of its four product categories by 2020, and to develop “breakthrough packaging innovation” in the fourth category — toothpaste tubes. The company subsequently made an additional commitment that all plastic packaging would be recyclable by 2025.
To make the recyclable tube, the company worked with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) also known as the “No. 2” plastic resin code, which is widely recycled, used to make milk jugs and other plastic bottles. Colgate packaging engineers combined different grades and thicknesses of HDPE laminate into a tube that meets the recycling standards of the Association of Plastics Recyclers. To earn this recognition, the company had to show the tube material could be reused to make new plastic bottles and would successfully navigate sorting equipment in recycling facilities. To its credit, Colgate is making the tube technology open source and inviting competitors to adopt it. However, it is unlikely that many new tubes will actually get recycled by processors until several other brands make the switch, providing enough volume to make collection cost effective.
While the recyclable tubes are most welcome, the world has changed since Colgate made its commitment to As You Sow five years ago. In addition to recyclability, brands are now expected to minimize plastic use and explore alternative delivery systems. Tubes could be replaced with less complex packaging if consumers are willing to adapt. For example, several companies, including Lush cosmetics, have chewable toothpaste tabs on the market that need no individual packaging.
To learn more about our pioneering work on plastic pollution, click here.