*Companies are sharing information on how to make products recyclable. Critics say this is anticompetitive behavior.*
*Saabira Chaudhuri for Bloomberg News*
For decades there was no way to recycle empty toothpaste tubes. Every minute about 38,000 of them ended up as trash, dumped in landfills or incinerators around the world.
Then, around 12 years ago, executives at Colgate-Palmolive Co. set about trying to end that waste. Their challenge was that the tubes, a mix of aluminum and various plastics, were too complex to affordably recycle. So Colgate designed a simpler tube made from high-density polyethylene, commonly used to make milk bottles.
But redesigning the tubes was only the first step. Colgate also began sharing the technology with its rivals. The company hoped widespread adoption of the design would spur municipalities and waste facilities to start collecting and sorting the new tubes.
Today, 95% of toothpaste tubes sold in the US are made using the recyclable design, and manufacturers around the globe are converting to it for toothpaste and other tubes.
Getting to this stage has taken an unusual level of industrywide cooperation. But not everyone supports that kind of teamwork.
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*Companies are sharing information on how to make products recyclable. Critics say this is anticompetitive behavior.*
*Saabira Chaudhuri for Bloomberg News*
For decades there was no way to recycle empty toothpaste tubes. Every minute about 38,000 of them ended up as trash, dumped in landfills or incinerators around the world.
Then, around 12 years ago, executives at Colgate-Palmolive Co. set about trying to end that waste. Their challenge was that the tubes, a mix of aluminum and various plastics, were too complex to affordably recycle. So Colgate designed a simpler tube made from high-density polyethylene, commonly used to make milk bottles.
But redesigning the tubes was only the first step. Colgate also began sharing the technology with its rivals. The company hoped widespread adoption of the design would spur municipalities and waste facilities to start collecting and sorting the new tubes.
Today, 95% of toothpaste tubes sold in the US are made using the recyclable design, and manufacturers around the globe are converting to it for toothpaste and other tubes.
Getting to this stage has taken an unusual level of industrywide cooperation. But not everyone supports that kind of teamwork.
[Read the full essay here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-02/how-recycling-toothpaste-tubes-reflects-an-antitrust-battleground?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NzM1MzU0NSwiZXhwIjoxNzY3OTU4MzQ1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUODhCTzhLR0NURzMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.DGz4My2x2b_r-tT9MCEGQS-TE947MKI1umUHxLBGOFI)