ABOUT

Most of the world's toothpaste tubes are not recyclable, adding to up to 20 billion plastic tubes a year tossed in the trash globally. Colgate® is aiming to help reduce this number, by creating the first recyclable tube to be recognized by external recycling authorities. But making a recyclable tube is only half the battle; being completely recyclable and ensuring those tubes are recycled are two different things — a disconnect that we worked with Colgate® to tackle through the Recycle Me! limited edition tube range.

We needed to educate, engage and alert shoppers to the fact that they could now confidently recycle the tubes alongside other plastic bottles. So, on select tubes of Colgate® Optic White Advanced Sparkling White, Colgate® Cavity Protection, Colgate® Max Fresh Cool, and Colgate® Total Whitening, we worked with the Colgate® Design team to leverage the brand equity of these lines and reimagine them through a recyclable lens.

Clearly communicating that these tubes are 100% recyclable meant leaning into the universally recognized recycling symbol through clear, telegraphic design on the packs. Dynamic, bright animations are paired with bold messaging, building awareness with shoppers through the limited-edition graphics, and alerting both consumers.

But the recycling journey doesn’t stop there. When the tube reaches other recycling stakeholders — Materials Recovery Facilities (MFP) operators, reprocessors, and more — its pronounced design communicates that these aren’t your typical landfill tubes. By 2025, Colgate and other major toothpaste brands have publicly committed to switching to recyclable High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) tubes. And by creating a first-of-its-kind tube in Recycle Me!, we’ve not only designed a tube that’s bold but designed a tube that’s meant to do better.

The bright limited-edition graphics are the first-of-their-kind, and designed to help us all do better. Now that’s something to smile about.

Credits

Colgate Palmolive Team:
Jared Richardson, Global Head of Design, Colgate-Palmolive
Kristina Karaiskos, Global Brand Design Director, Oral Care
Gerard Rizzo, Sr. Global Design Manager, Oral Care
Ann-Marie Keller, North America Marketing

Design Bridge team:
Claire Parker - Executive Creative Director
Jess Marie - Creative Director
Cristina Tazza - VP, Strategy
Stefanie Gilmore - Strategy Director
Josh Griffin - Client Business Director
Tayler Spellis - Senior Client Manager
Nei Valente - Senior designer
Trang Le - Senior freelance designer
Gan Lin - Animation