Colgate’s 9 Billion Toothpaste Tubes Defy Effort to Recycle Them

Colgate-Palmolive Co. spent years devising a recyclable toothpaste tube. Pulling it off was a technical masterstroke, substituting plastic for a mix of materials that was historically tough to reclaim. The result, one executive said, was “nice squeezability.”

One big problem remains: Many sorting centers around the US don’t accept them.

The gap between Colgate’s engineering success and the practicalities of where-do-we-toss-our-empties underscores a persistent challenge for corporate America: Switching to packaging that can bypass landfills isn’t enough if there is no easy way to recycle it. In Colgate’s case, that is 9 billion tubes a year requiring extra ...