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Colgate’s Toothpaste Tube in Hong Kong: From Recyclable to Recycled

Since the introduction of a recyclable high-density polyethylene (HDPE) tube in 2019, Colgate-Palmolive has transitioned approximately 97% of toothpaste SKUs in North America and 98% globally to recyclable formats. These tubes are now sold in more than 70 countries worldwide.

When the tube was launched in Hong Kong, it faced a stalled local municipal solid waste (MSW) charging scheme, tube exclusion from key local recyclable collectors, and a persistent consumer “say-do” gap, leaving Brad Han, General Manager of Colgate Hong Kong, to justify continued local investment in pushing the transition.

The case provides a foundation for understanding sustainable supply chain and open-source innovation, and the connected systemic barriers and challenges in delivering a closed-loop economy. Students will learn to appreciate the gap between “recyclable” and “recycled” and the role of open-source innovation in ESG, as well as strategies to close the loop.

Year of Publication: 2026
Ref. No.: 26/850C
Discipline: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), Production & Operations Management, Public Policy and Strategy
Industry: Consumer Goods, Retail & Wholesale
Country/Region: Hong Kong SAR
Company: COLGATE-PALMOLIVE COMPANY
Languages: English
Pages of Text: 14

Learning Objective:

  1. Evaluate the "recyclable versus recycled" gap. Explain why product redesign is a necessary but insufficient condition for circularity, and identify the infrastructure, policy, and behavioral barriers that separate a recyclable product from a recycled one.
  2. Assess the strategic role of open-source innovation in ESG strategy. Weigh the supply chain risks (loss of first-mover advantage, enabling competitors to catch up) against the competitive and reputational rewards (industrywide critical mass, recycler buy-in, category leadership) of sharing proprietary sustainable technology.
  3. Examine the significance of individual versus collective extended producer responsibility (EPR) to the design and implementation of a closed-loop supply chain and its impact on reverse channel structure for the collection of used products from customers.
  4. A fourth integrative objective is decision-making under incomplete control. It offers a useful bridge to facilitate broader conversations about corporate sustainability strategy under systemic, rather than firm-level, constraints.

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