One of many bulletins at Recycle Week 2025 was a collaboration between main toothpaste manufacturers, local weather motion NGO WRAP, and native authorities, to the impact that, in WRAP’s phrases, “the common-or-garden toothpaste tube has grow to be recyclable and will head for the recycling and never the bin any longer, that means fewer landfillings for the UK”.
Toothpaste manufacturers Colgate and Haleon had been headline contributors within the collaboration, which implies toothpaste tubes can now be produced from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) — the identical materials used for milk bottles. This implies tubes might be recycled into gadgets like backyard furnishings, plastic piping, and bleach bottles. Historically, tubes contained a layer of aluminium between plastic, making them nearly unattainable to recycle (and the second most wish-cycled product, in response to WRAP). Using HDPE, then again, means all tubes are actually technically 100% recyclable.
The brand new tubes are collected by a rising variety of native authorities through their kerbside collections, or at any Boots retailer throughout the UK. WRAP recommends checking in case your native authority collects tubes through the Recycle Now Locator.
Catherine David, WRAP CEO, hailed a “game-changing second for recycling”.
“In partnership with Colgate and Haleon, we’ve taken one of the infuriating packaging codecs and given it a sustainable makeover.”
Increasingly more native authorities are actually accepting toothpaste tubes, with 3 million households now in a position to settle for tubes of their kerbside collections*** alongside plastic pots, tubs and trays, that are fabricated from the identical materials. WRAP, which works with councils to enhance and enhance collections, mentioned it’s main a drive to encourage extra to examine with their recycling amenities and add toothpaste tubes to their collections.
Adrian Sen, Sustainability Innovation Senior Supervisor, Colgate-Palmolive, mentioned: “It’s essential to us to make this expertise obtainable to all. The management and collaborative spirit of WRAP have been important in serving to to make this a actuality and create consciousness with customers. Their work in bringing collectively trade, native authorities, and customers is essential for constructing a extra round financial system. We’re grateful for his or her steerage and partnership as we proceed our journey to eradicate plastic waste and reimagine a more healthy future for all folks and our planet.”
Joe Muscat, Environmental Sustainability & Innovation Director, Haleon, mentioned WRAP’s “collaborative strategy and deep experience have been instrumental in serving to Haleon ‘rescue’ supplies that had been as soon as thought-about unrecyclable.”
“Because of WRAP’s management, we’ve turned toothpaste tubes from unrecyclable waste into packaging that may now be a part of a very round financial system. With extra native authorities beginning to acquire them, we’re urging others to comply with swimsuit and assist rescue tens of millions extra tubes from the garbage bin.”
Boots shops throughout the UK are accepting toothpaste tubes and different hard-to-recycle gadgets by way of their Recycle at Boots scheme, the place Benefit Card factors might be earned for taking part.
Recycle Week 2025 ran from 22 to twenty-eight September. Efforts had been underway in the course of the occasion to boost consciousness of the vary of frequent home items that may be recycled, however too usually find yourself within the residual bin.
These embody aluminium foil, shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes, set off sprays, aerosols, yoghurt pots, aftershave and fragrance bottles, and bathroom roll tubes. WRAP estimates1 that roughly 79% of households miss 2 gadgets or extra on common per week, that means 2.3 billion of this stuff are binned yearly after they might be recycled.
Recycle Now’s urging customers to rescue these recyclables from the garbage by checking through the Recycle Now Recycling Locator what’s accepted as a part of their kerbside assortment, family recycling centres or by way of in-store retail collections.
Notes
[1] An estimate of two,267,824,007 gadgets throughout the UK/yr. Based mostly on WRAP’s Native Authority scheme information as of September 2025 and analysis from WRAP’s Recycling Tracker survey within the UK: Spring 2025 which surveyed 4,507 UK adults answerable for garbage/recycling on current disposal behaviours. Based mostly on a median of two.5 gadgets missed/UK family/recycling assortment.
