We are transitioning our entire toothpaste portfolio across the world to recyclable tubes. This effort began in 2019 and will be completed by 2025, so not all tubes will immediately be recyclable. It's important that if your tube does not have this flag on it, that you don't put it into your recycling bin.

If your tube has one of these symbols, then recycling is easy. Simply squeeze out as much of the toothpaste from the tube as you can, put the cap back on and place the tube in your recycling bin. Our tube recycles with HDPE #2 plastics.

Please don't cut open the toothpaste tube to try and remove excess toothpaste! During the processing of the tube at the recycling facility, the tube is ground up and goes through a "rinsing" process, where all the residual toothpaste is washed off the plastic. So there's no need for you to do any rinsing at home.

Yes, caps are technically recyclable and the best practice is to replace the cap on the tube before placing it in the recycling bin. Doing so will help prevent the caps becoming litter. Caps are made of a different plastic than the tube and thus some recyclers might prefer the caps to be removed before tubes are recycled. Please check your local recycling rules to be sure. We are continuing our research to convert all of our caps into a material more compatible with the HDPE stream.

In 2019, we earned recognition for technical recyclability from the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), showing that tubes of the right design are compatible with the HDPE #2 container recycling process. We also tested the sortability of tubes in the lab as well as in the field at MRFs (sorting facilities). Data from these efforts show that our full-size tubes are able to make it through to the container line successfully, and there is minimal mis-sorting.

Now that we’ve solved technical recyclability and proved compatibility with HDPE container recycling, including sortability, we have been sharing the technology and the approach with tube suppliers, other brands, and any interested parties. This means that the transition to recyclable tubes can happen quickly and recyclers can be confident that the tubes they receive are compatible. Because of this momentum, all major toothpaste brands have publicly committed to transition their tube portfolios by 2025, and a Squeeze Tube Design Guide is publicly available.

In addition to helping the industry transition their tubes, we’re focused on working with the recycling community. We are sharing our work on compatibility of recyclable tubes within the current recycling system, and partnering with key third parties to address turning "recyclable" into widely accepted and "recycled." 

A key collaborative effort we are funding is the Journey to Recyclability for Plastic Squeeze Tubes project, managed by our partner, Stina Inc. Anchored in the importance of avoiding contamination and improving the quality of recycled feedstock, this project is working through the critical elements needed for all tubes to be included in community lists of acceptable items in the recycling stream.

Another example of work we are contributing to is The Pathway to Circularity: Recyclability Framework with The Recycling Partnership. The Framework is intended to define a clear set of criteria to help companies successfully navigate the recycling system and take action to address challenges, thereby making circularity tangible. We are active participants, having helped initiate the project and using tubes as a helpful case study. We are planning additional testing as the Framework protocols are agreed upon by the Circularity Council driving the project. 

Even with all of these efforts, however, your community may not yet accept tubes for recycling during this transition phase.  Consumers should check with their local community programs to ensure that tubes are accepted.  We are proud to be the leaders in this space and our goal is to continue developing innovative science that creates products that are ultimately better for our planet.

The plan is for all of our toothpaste tubes to be recyclable by the end of 2025. It takes time to make the transition, and during this time, some of our toothpastes will be in recyclable tubes while others won't have transitioned yet.

No, this tube (and plastics in general) are not designed to be biodegradable. The HDPE #2 plastic used in our tubes is designed to be "circular," so that the material can be re-processed into new products and packaging.

Our recyclable tubes are made out of HDPE #2 plastic, which is one of the most recycled plastics. HDPE can be turned into all kinds of new things, including construction materials and new packaging. Switching to recyclable has the potential to keep billions of tubes out of landfills.

The tube is primarily made of HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) #2 plastic.

The cap is made of PP (Polypropylene) #5 plastic.

This project isn’t about us, it’s about something bigger. By sharing our technology, hopefully we can initiate a global shift to recyclable toothpaste tubes. Our dream is to have all tubes (not just toothpaste) be recycled in practice and at scale.

Here’s a quick example of a tube's lifecycle.

Once the tube is in the recycle stream, it is sent to a place like a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) to be sorted. It is then sent to a reprocessor, who turns HDPE products, including bottles, into little plastic pellets. These pellets can then be turned into new products and packaging!