Colgate Toothpaste in PET Ushers in a ‘Frictionless Future’

The use of a recyclable, clear PET toothpaste bottle is enabled through the use of slippery coating on the inside of the container that allows the viscous product to be dispensed easily and completely.

Colgate-Palmolive is inviting European consumers to make toothbrushing part of their beauty ritual, with its new Elixir line of three toothpaste formulas in a striking PET package.
Colgate-Palmolive is inviting European consumers to make toothbrushing part of their beauty ritual, with its new Elixir line of three toothpaste formulas in a striking PET package.

Colgate-Palmolive is inviting European consumers to make toothbrushing part of their beauty ritual, with its new Elixir line of three toothpaste formulas in a striking PET package that breaks from category norms in every way. Says Colgate-Palmolive Co. Worldwide Director of Oral Care Packaging Liz Mellone, “Colgate Elixir is toothpaste reimagined—breathtaking design with beauty-inspired ingredients in a unique packaging technology that is recyclable and designed to let people enjoy the toothpaste to the last drop.”

According to Mellone, the three innovative toothpaste formulas—White Restore, Cool Detox, and Gum Booster—were co-developed in tandem with the package, a clear, inverted, 80-mL (2.7-oz) PET bottle with a clear overcap. The sleek and stylish container is a significant departure from, and a more eco-friendly alternative to, traditional toothpaste tubes, which are made from a multilayer construction of plastic and aluminum that renders them non-recyclable.


Watch video   Watch a video on LiquiGlide technology, from its debut at PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2015.

What makes the use of PET possible in the Elixir application is a breakthrough coating technology from LiquiGlide that eliminates the friction between the inside of the package and the product, allowing the toothpaste to flow freely from the container, evacuating the toothpaste completely. Explains LiquiGlide CEO Dave Smith, “The reason toothpaste isn’t in PET packages, other than Elixir, is because it sticks and won’t come out easily. The LiquiGlide coating enables PET squeeze bottles to work for standard toothpaste.”

An MIT innovation

The frictionless coating technology was co-invented by Smith and Professor Kripa Varanasi at the Varanasi Lab at MIT. In 2012, the two co-founded LiquiGlide with what they say was “a vision to eliminate the no-slip boundary condition to minimize material, water, and energy waste and enable new and better products, processes, and technologies across industries.”

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