Toothpaste, it always comes in a plastic tube right? Well no as it turns out, but more on that later, let’s focus on the bad before the good. Tubes of toothpaste are fairly low cost. so what could justify a higher price point? Perhaps if it was a small independent company producing it without economies of scale? Well you probably guessed this doesn’t apply to Colgate, which is owned by Colgate-Palmolive, their revenue was $15.5 billion in 2018… What about if it contained genuinely expensive ingredients? Well I’m no chemist so I’ve listed them at the bottom, if you spot one please let me know. Perhaps you could charge more if the ethical credentials are there, perhaps if higher working standards are given to the workers, or the company takes extra care to be environmentally responsible? Well that’s another flat no then.
One way Colgate has spotted though is just brilliant, couldn’t be further off trend if they tried. Yep, they chose PACKAGING! And that is OVERpackaging, not environmentally friendly packaging. You see what they have done is to put that plastic tube into a bog box with lots of shiny bits to make it look more ‘premium’ and of course this requires a load of extra plastic. Some toothpaste tubes are available just as a tube, some come in a small cardboard box, but not this one! I spotted it at £6 and thought that is a bit pricey, until I saw the Expert Anti-Stain one for £12, that big price tag seems to be justified by the gold inside of the box.
But you know what, you don’t have to buy this kind of crap, yep I’m calling it crap, I don’t care how good the toothpaste claims to be, the packaging makes the product as a whole, crap. Sorry Colgate, you don’t even get a score out of 10, just a crap.
If you want something better there are companies out there trying to do things in a better way. Have a look at the Georganics range, they make a wonderful selection of plastic free toothpastes. Each formula includes locally sourced, pure, natural and organic ingredients and the packaging they do use is all recyclable, biodegradable or compostable.
Colgate ingredients: Sorbitol, Aqua, Hydrated Silica, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Aroma, PEG-12, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Cellulose Gum, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Saccharin, Sodium Fluoride, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Limonene, CI 77891, CI 74160.