Are Toothpaste Companies Getting Their S**t Together?

A huge conversation in today's headlines is recycling in our economy. Besides your average plastic bottles, some toothpaste brands are now recyclable tubes. And other brands are making their way to making their tubes of toothpaste recyclable. Woah! So your telling me I can now recycle my toothpaste now!

On recyclingtoday.com Proctor and Gamble oral care in Cincinnati has released its newest packaging across toothpaste brands like Crest, Oral-B, and Blend-A-Med. These three brands now feature recyclable high-density polyethylene (HDPE) tubes. The switch started Janurary 2021 and will continue full conversion by 2025. P&G company says it is in discussions with several HDPE tube suppliers and reached an agreement with France-based Albèa to start using its tube technology, which enables the tubes to be recyclable wherever collection programs are available.

The Colgate's Tom's of Maine brand is under development to have recyclable tubes by 2025. On January 19, 2022 the Fast Company website mentions that after 149 years, Colgate toothpaste tubes are finally recyclable. With all of these recyclable tubes it could eventually keep a billion tubes out of landfills each year. Colgate spent over five years redesigning the brands of toothpaste tubes so they can be recycled in curbside bins. Starting in March this year, these new tubes will be released across four of Colgate's most popular lines. The company will have every single tube in its portfolio set to be recyclable in the United States in 2023 and globally by 2025.

If we can get Colgate and Proctor and Gamble brands to divert over to recyclable toothpaste tubes then this would change the course of recycling history. What other toothpaste brands can we get to change their tubes to recyclable tube material? Now only if we can get people to remember to recycle their toothpaste tubes as well as their toothpaste boxes!