Industry first for Colgate as it launches new vegan certified toothpaste in recyclable tube

Colgate has launched a new toothpaste which is being billed as the first of a kind because it comes in a recyclable tube.

Toothpaste tubes have traditionally been impossible to recycle because they are made from a mixture of plastic and aluminium. Consumers get through 20bn packs of toothpaste every year with discarded tubes contributing to the plastic pollution crisis.

The Guardian reports that Colgate’s new Smile for Good brand, has also been certified by the Vegan Society.

It will be in a tube made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) which is the same plastic as milk containers.

Colgate said its engineers had figured out a way to turn the hard plastic, which is widely recyclable, into a “comfortably squeezable” tube.

The technology will be shared with rivals, Colgate-Palmolive said, as part of its commitment to reduce usage of what is one of the most widely used forms of plastic packaging that cannot be recycled.