One of the announcements at Recycle Week 2025 was a collaboration between major toothpaste brands, climate action NGO WRAP, and local authorities, to the effect that, in WRAP’s words, “the humble toothpaste tube has become recyclable and should head for the recycling and not the bin from now on, meaning fewer landfillings for the UK”.
Toothpaste brands Colgate and Haleon were headline participants in the collaboration, which means toothpaste tubes can now be made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) — the same material used for milk bottles. This means tubes can be recycled into items like garden furniture, plastic piping, and bleach bottles. Traditionally, tubes contained a layer of aluminium between plastic, making them almost impossible to recycle (and the second most wish-cycled product, according to WRAP). The use of HDPE, on the other hand, means all tubes are now technically 100% recyclable.
The new tubes are collected by a growing number of local authorities via their kerbside collections, or at any Boots store across the UK. WRAP recommends checking if your local authority collects tubes via the Recycle Now Locator.
Catherine David, WRAP CEO, hailed a “game-changing moment for recycling”.
“In partnership with Colgate and Haleon, we’ve taken one of the most infuriating packaging formats and given it a sustainable makeover.”
More and more local authorities are now accepting toothpaste tubes, with 3 million households now able to accept tubes in their kerbside collections*** alongside plastic pots, tubs and trays, which are made of the same material. WRAP, which works with councils to improve and increase collections, said it is leading a drive to encourage more to check with their recycling facilities and add toothpaste tubes to their collections.
Adrian Sen, Sustainability Innovation Senior Manager, Colgate-Palmolive, said: “It’s important to us to make this technology available to all. The leadership and collaborative spirit of WRAP have been vital in helping to make this a reality and create awareness with consumers. Their work in bringing together industry, local authorities, and consumers is crucial for building a more circular economy. We are grateful for their guidance and partnership as we continue our journey to eliminate plastic waste and reimagine a healthier future for all people and our planet.”
Joe Muscat, Environmental Sustainability & Innovation Director, Haleon, said WRAP’s “collaborative approach and deep expertise have been instrumental in helping Haleon ‘rescue’ materials that were once considered unrecyclable.”
“Thanks to WRAP’s leadership, we’ve turned toothpaste tubes from unrecyclable waste into packaging that can now be part of a truly circular economy. With more local authorities starting to collect them, we’re urging others to follow suit and help rescue millions more tubes from the rubbish bin.”
Boots stores across the UK are accepting toothpaste tubes and other hard-to-recycle items through their Recycle at Boots scheme, where Advantage Card points can be earned for participating.
Recycle Week 2025 ran from 22 to 28 September. Efforts were underway during the event to raise awareness of the range of common household items that can be recycled, but too often end up in the residual bin.
These include aluminium foil, shampoo bottles, toothpaste tubes, trigger sprays, aerosols, yoghurt pots, aftershave and perfume bottles, and toilet roll tubes. WRAP estimates1 that approximately 79% of households miss 2 items or more on average per week, meaning 2.3 billion of these items are binned every year when they could be recycled.
Recycle Now is urging consumers to rescue these recyclables from the rubbish by checking via the Recycle Now Recycling Locator what’s accepted as part of their kerbside collection, household recycling centres or through in-store retail collections.
Notes
[1] An estimate of 2,267,824,007 items across the UK/year. Based on WRAP’s Local Authority scheme data as of September 2025 and research from WRAP’s Recycling Tracker survey in the UK: Spring 2025 which surveyed 4,507 UK adults responsible for rubbish/recycling on recent disposal behaviours. Based on an average of 2.5 items missed/UK household/recycling collection.
