a friendlier tube for our planet.
learn about our new recyclable toothpaste tube and how you can help us treat our world friendlier.
we love to spread the friendly and now we want to educate about our new recyclable tube. During this transition phase, your community may not yet accept tubes for recycling. Consumers should check with their local community facilities.
a friendlier tube for our planet.
learn about our new recyclable toothpaste tube and how you can help us treat our world friendlier.
we love to share the friendly and are stoked to introduce our new recyclable toothpaste tube. during this transition, your community may not yet accept tubes for recycling. check with your local community facilities for the freshest scoop.
questions? look no further.
what is the toothpaste tube made of?
the hello tube is primarily made of HDPE (High Density Polyethylene), #2 plastic. the cap is made of PP (Polypropylene), #5 plastic.
how do I recycle the tube? do I need to cut open and remove all the leftover toothpaste in the tube, or rinse it out?
we are psyched to be transitioning our entire toothpaste portfolio to recyclable tubes. this effort began in 2022 and will be completed by 2025, so not all tubes will immediately be recyclable. if your tube doesn’t have this symbol on it, please don’t put it in your recycling bin.
but first, be sure to check locally: your community may not accept tubes for recycling just yet. learn more at helloproducts.com.
does your tube have this symbol? yay! check to see whether your community accepts tubes for recycling. if it does, 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 or wherever your community may recycle #2 HDPE plastics. please don’t cut open the 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.
will you still partner with Terracycle?
yes, TerraCycle is still a partner with hello to offer recycling for all sizes of our toothpaste tubes and caps that are not yet recyclable, toothbrushes, mouthwash bottles and caps, as well as deo containers and caps. learn more about our TerraCycle partnership here! https://www.hello-products.com/hello-terracycle/
is this tube biodegradable?
no, this tube (and plastics in general) are not designed to be biodegradable. the #2 HDPE plastic used in our tubes is designed to be “circular,” so that the material can be re-processed into new products and packaging.
why are some of your tubes recyclable while others aren’t?
our plan is for all of our toothpaste tubes to be recyclable by the end of 2025. it takes time to make this transition, and during this time, some of our toothpastes will be in recyclable tubes while others won’t have transitioned yet. for now, make sure your tube has this icon below before you recycle it:
what happens once the tubes are recycled?
once the tube is in the recycle stream, it gets sent to places like a materials recovery facility [MRF] where it would get sorted, then sent to a reprocessor who turns the tubes into little plastic pellets. these pellets can then get turned into new products and packaging! so you’re not actually saying goodbye to your favorite tube, just see ya later!
what are you doing to ensure these tubes are accepted by recycling facilities?
in 2019, our parent company Colgate-Palmolive Company’s first recyclable tube design earned recognition for technical recyclability from the APR (association of plastic recyclers), showing that tubes of the right design are compatible with HDPE #2 container recycling. we also tested the sortability of tubes; data show that our full size tubes are able to be successfully sorted with minimal mis-sorting.
we have been sharing the technology as well as the approach with tube suppliers, other brands, and any interested parties. in addition to helping the industry transition their tubes, hello, in partnership with Colgate, is focused on working with the recycling community and partnering with key third parties to address turning “recyclable” into widely accepted and “recycled.”
we are part of key collaborative efforts in the journey to recyclability for plastic squeeze tubes. these efforts are making circularity tangible and the tube transition is well underway!
even with all of these efforts, however, during this transition phase your community may not yet accept tubes for recycling. people 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.
