Mt. Diablo Resource Recovery (MDRR) has announced a new partnership with Colgate-Palmolive and Glacier to strengthen the recovery of recyclable plastic squeeze tubes and expand recycling opportunities for the community.
Colgate-Palmolive, which pioneered the first recyclable toothpaste tube in 2019, designed the product with High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), the same No. 2 plastic used in milk jugs and detergent bottles. The company shared its patented approach with suppliers, brands, and industry partners, leading to widespread adoption. Today, an estimated 95 percent of toothpaste tubes and 85 percent of all HDPE tubes are designed for recycling, according to data from Stina Inc., which leads the Plastic Squeeze Tube Recycling Project.
As part of the collaboration, MDRR will deploy Glacier’s AI-powered cameras to track toothpaste tubes and other non-toothpaste tubes such as lotion, sunscreen, and shampoo as they move through the facility. The real-time data will help improve recycling practices and keep more material out of landfills.
MDRR CEO Kish Rajan called the effort a milestone, saying the partnership represents a major step toward the company’s mission of diverting as much material as possible from landfills. He emphasized that by combining innovation and technology, the program can expand recycling options, improve communication, and contribute to a greener future.
Effective immediately, MDRR’s residential recycling program now accepts number two plastic squeeze tubes in the blue recycling cart. This includes toothpaste, lotion, sunscreen, and cosmetic tubes. To ensure proper recycling, tubes must be plastic, emptied as much as possible, and placed in the cart with the cap on. They should go directly into the cart, not inside a bag.
The expansion of the program allows more of the items people use every day to avoid the landfill and enter a recovery pathway, helping to build a cleaner and healthier community for all.
Plastic recycling is a joke. It gets driven around from location to location and the eventually dumped in the landfill. Prove me wrong.
That’s all well and good, but what will it mean for rates?
The last rate hike was astoundingly high,
I guess we can expect to pay even more.
Nothing is free, and corporate America pays for nothing.
They should pay us for giving them the recycling products or just pick ’em up for free by lowering the monthly charge 33% or we could just throw everything in the trash.
This all makes me want to make midnight runs down a lonely road to lose my trash somewhere.
Hey, Baily Road is fixed; that’d be a fast run.
All this effort to bribe a third world nation to put the plastics into their landfill.
It is the responsibility of the plastic industry to come up with a solution to eliminate its plastic waste.
Huh?
Please explain that so even I can understand it.
Ooh, I’ve got this one!
We virtue-signal by not dumping our plastics into a landfill or the ocean, but instead, pay to ship it to China, India, and other countries, so they can dump it into the ocean.
And everyone can feel good about their efforts!
Stop worrying so much about toothpaste tubes and figure out how to stop the sale everything you buy (from fruit to toys to etc. etc.) in plastic clamshell containers