Henkel to convert entire oral care portfolio to fully recyclable tubes by 2021

22-Jul-2020 - Last updated on 22-Jul-2020 at 14:09 GMT

Henkel will rollout Albéa's Greenleaf tube technology across all six of its oral care brands by 2021, starting with Licor del Polo

Personal care major Henkel has partnered with global packaging firm Albéa to roll out fully recyclable tubes across its complete oral care portfolio, starting with Spanish toothpaste brand Licor del Polo this month.

Using Albéa’s patented Greenleaf tube technology – fully recyclable all plastic laminate tubes made with a reduced CO2 footprint, German-headquartered Henkel will convert packaging across its six oral care brands by the beginning of next year: Licor del Polo, Antica Erboristeria, Denivit, Teraxyl, Theramed and Vademecum.

“The transition, to be concluded across all oral care brands beginning of next year, will be pioneered by the Spanish toothpaste brand Licor del Polo,” Henkel said.

‘Ambitious packaging targets’

The Greenleaf tubes were recognised by Suez.CircPack in Europe and the Association of Plastic Recyclers in the USA as technically recyclable within existing, effective recycling streams for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles. And whilst the cap on this current model was not fully recyclable, Henkel and Albéa said they were working to co-develop a tube-and-cap variant made entirely of fully recyclable HDPE for use in 2021.

Philippe Blank, head of packaging sustainability at Henkel Beauty Care, said the tube conversions formed part of the Henkel’s overarching goal to “foster a circular economy” and pursue “ambitious packaging targets”.

“This joint development is a major step for us to further improve the recyclability of our packaging portfolio and is contributing significantly to our goal to achieve 100 percent recyclability by 2025,” Blank said.

A green packaging revolution?

Albéa had worked with a range of leading beauty and personal care companies on sustainable packaging variants over recent years, launching the first recyclable toothpaste tube with Colgate-Palmolive at the beginning of this year.

The packaging firm had also developed a paper-based tube with L’Oréal, launched across the La Roche-Posay Anthelios sunscreen brand in France last month, and was continuing to work with the cosmetics major to develop a next-generation recyclable variant.

Earlier this year at ADF&PCD Paris, Albéa’s group sustainability manager Aude Charbonneaux told attendees at one of the show’s talks that progression in sustainable cosmetics packaging had to be “responsible” and all supply chain actors had to be “aligned with one another”.