Why your Tom’s of Maine toothpaste isn’t as ‘green’ as you think.

Loose toothpaste tabs sold by the ounce in our shop in Corrales, NM.

Recently I was chatting with a customer who was eyeing the toothpaste tabs we carry in the shop. She’d never tried them but was curious. She’d made the switch to Tom’s of Maine many years ago, preferring ‘natural’ products to, as she put it, “all the chemicals in big brand products”. But recently she’d been having a hard time finding it. The store she bought Tom’s from stopped carrying it and she’d been to several other places with no luck. She left with a handful of toothpaste tabs to try and said she’d report back.

I was intrigued by the sudden disappearance of her go-to toothpaste so, naturally, I googled it.

Turns out that the ‘natural’ brand Tom's of Maine is currently at the center of a class action lawsuit. Filed in 2023, the lawsuit alleges that the company is misleading consumers with false claims about the recyclability of its toothpaste tubes. The complaint argues that Tom’s marketing of their tubes as recyclable is “false and misleading” because only a “miniscule” number of recycling facilities accept them. Additionally, the plaintiffs claim Tom’s is in violation of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Green Guides, which regulate how environmental claims can be made about products.

In February of 2023, a California judge denied Tom’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.  

The Allegations

Tom's of Maine indeed promotes its toothpaste tubes as recyclable (as well as their plastic deodorant tubes). Their website product description includes direct instructions to consumers to recycle the tubes. It reads:

“Look for the blue recycling flag on your tube, squeeze out as much of the toothpaste from the tube as you can, replace the cap, and recycle.”

I’d seen this on a tube of Colgate and wondered how that was possible. The tube certainly didn’t look recyclable and given that you can’t recycle a pizza box with a single grease stain, I was skeptical that a tube filled with toothpaste remnants would be accepted at a materials recovery facility (MRF) - a plant that sorts and prepares recyclable materials for sale to manufacturers.

Turns out, it’s not possible.

Well, not in real life that is. The lawsuit alleges that MRFs across the US do not actually accept these tubes. So why does Tom’s market them as recyclable?

While most toothpaste tubes prior to 2019 were made of a mix of plastic and aluminum, Tom’s of Maine proudly announced several years ago that they’d removed the aluminum and swapped it for more plastic. That’s right, MORE plastic.

The justification? Mixed materials are so difficult to recycle, most plants reject them (so tubes made of both plastic and aluminum have to-date not been recycled). Tom’s new 100% plastic tubes are made entirely of HDPE #2, a type of plastic that is theoretically recyclable. That is, technically speaking, the technology to recycle this material exists.

However, the reality is far less optimistic.

The 32 page lawsuit summarizes investigations that found the vast majority of MRFs in the U.S. are unable to distinguish these ‘recyclable 100% plastic tubes’ from mixed-material tubes, thus they get sorted out and marked as trash.

When I took a tour of BARCO (Albuquerque’s MRF) in December 2024, I asked the plant manager if they accepted any toothpaste tubes. His response? No.

Sorted recyclables and trash at BARCO, Albuquerque’s Materials Recovery Facility.

What’s more, even if sorting practices were to advance, the report highlights that MRFs indeed consider the tubes contaminated due to leftover toothpaste residue and consequently, wouldn’t accept them anyway. So, Tom’s of Maine’s self proclaimed innovation resulted in more plastic being used to manufacture toothpaste tubes, without sparing any from landfill or the incinerator. Consumers looking to make a sustainable switch (and willing to pay more to do so) ended up contributing to the very plastic waste crisis they were trying to avoid.

More Lawsuits

Interestingly, I also discovered this isn’t the first time Tom’s of Maine has been slapped with a class action lawsuit. At least twice since 2019 the company has been accused of false and misleading claims about its toothpaste being “all natural “. While it seems these suits were mysteriously dropped during mediation between counsels, it is worth noting that one of the primary ingredients in Tom’s of Maine toothpaste is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). SLS is often petroleum-derived. Tom’s website says they use SLS that is coconut and/or palm derived, which is better than petroleum. However, palm-derived SLS is NOT a sustainably sourced ingredient. And while the raw ingredients might start off ‘natural’, the precursors to SLS undergo a LOT of processing and many argue the end result can hardly be considered so.

I’m not too offended by this ingredient, however when I looked at the ingredient list on Tom’s website, I could only find “Key Ingredients”. When I see this, I’m immediately wary of what they are leaving out that is in the full ingredient list. In our own product descriptions, you will always easily find a list of full ingredients, because we have nothing to hide!

The Reason for Greenwashing

Now you might be thinking, why are folks picking on the little guy who’s trying to do better? Tom’s of Maine is after all a certified B corp that gives 1% back to non-profits that work to protect the planet. But here’s a not-so-well known truth - Tom’s of Maine is owned by a mega-corporation, Colgate-Palmolive.

Tom and Kate Chappell founded Tom's of Maine in 1970 with a goal to create natural personal care products that were free of artificial flavors, fragrances, colors and preservatives. Fast forward to 2006, this small family-owned business was bought by Colgate for a reported ~$1 million.

In 2023, Colgate-Palmolive had a reported net income of $2.3 billion and its total assets were valued at $16.4 billion. Neither Colgate nor Palmolive have a reputation as being leaders in sustainability or as producers of natural, eco-friendly products, and they know they’re missing out on revenue from eco-conscious consumers. The solution? Buy out a ‘green’ brand that already has a devoted customer base. Next, turn it into a greenwashed subsidiary that can capture the ‘eco-conscious’ segment of the marketplace. Lastly, thanks to mega corporations’ very, very large marketing budgets, squeeze out the competition from smaller eco-brands who are actually committed to sustainable practices to maximize profits and monopolize the industry.

The Recycling Crisis: Why This Post Isn’t Really About Tom’s of Maine

Well at least Tom’s of Maine is manufacturing from materials that CAN be recycled one day in the future, right? Wrong. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2021, only 6.9% of plastics sent to recycling facilities in the U.S. were actually recycled. There is simply too much plastic flowing into the recycling stream. Manufacturers can only make use of so much of it, and the rest gets shipped off predominantly to the Global South, where it leaches from overcrowded landfills into waterways and eventually the ocean. This stark reality shows that even when consumers make the effort to recycle, the system in place is failing to support those intentions. Bottom line: recycling plastic isn’t the answer.

Switching to plastic-free packaging is a much more viable solution. If the new owners of Tom’s of Maine really cared about the planet, they wouldn’t be using plastic to package their toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash, and toothbrushes in the first place. We already have biodegradable and/or reusable materials for these items. In our refill shop, we sell refillable glass jars of deodorant (thank you Dryland Wilds!), refillable glass jars of mouthwash, and bamboo toothbrushes from Bamboo Switch. But what about toothpaste?

Alternatives to Traditional Packaging

Tom’s of Maine has an entire page devoted to discussing the “circularity” of their HDPE #2 plastic tubes. This is an egregious misuse of the concept of “circular”. Circular systems involve zero-waste. Recycling is absolutely not a zero-waste process, even when the items are actually recycled. The process itself uses significant energy and water, and produces byproducts that are quite likely ecologically destructive. Research published in the peer-reviewed “Journal of Hazardous Material Advances” found that the chopping, shredding and washing of plastic in recycling facilities can turn 6-13% of incoming plastic waste into microplastics that enter the waste stream, and that’s even when these facilities use filters to clean their wastewater!

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should stop all recycling. Current recycling practices for aluminum, glass, and paper, though not perfect, have much better recycling rates and are necessary components of a sustainable society, at least for now. But when it comes to plastic, recycling is simply not an effective solution.

ENTER toothpaste tabs!

These innovative bite-size tabs come in plastic-free packaging and are designed to be zero waste. The tab itself is package-less. The brand we source from, Canary Clean Co., sells us bulk kraft bags of toothpaste tabs. We then sell them loose out of bulk glass containers (think cookie jars!). Customers can bring any air-tight container they already have to fill into. Canary’s tabs are also SLS free btw (they use a minimal amount of an alternative surfactant derived from coconuts, not palm) and their full ingredient lists are readily available on their website).

Toothpaste tabs are not only a convenient way to practice oral hygiene, but also the closest we can get to a truly circular product. By refilling the containers that hold them, nothing is sent to landfill, the incinerator, OR recycling!

Conclusion

The class action lawsuit against Tom's of Maine highlights the urgent need for transparency in packaging claims and the importance of corporate accountability. As the lawsuit and others like it unfold, it’s crucial for consumers to have trustworthy sources of education about sustainable alternatives. Our VR blog aims to be just that!

By embracing options like toothpaste tabs, we can collectively work toward a zero-waste future, support small businesses who are truly invested in sustainability, and hold companies who aren’t accountable for their negative impact.

Sources:

https://www.classaction.org/news/class-action-claims-colgate-toms-of-maine-toothpastes-falsely-advertised-as-recyclable (scroll to the end to find a copy of the 32 page legal complaint)

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16052023/recycling-plastic-microplastics-waste/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772416623000803?via=ihub