--- description: Find out why Tom’s of Maine Recyclable Tube is one of the best inventions of 2020. title: Tom’s of Maine Recyclable Tube: The 100 Best Inventions of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7160b6fdfc5d2b34/698a144bb21a9c251f504410/best-inventions-of-2020-Toms-Recyclable-Tube-0.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 19, 2020 # A Cool New Tube Tom’s of Maine Recyclable Tube by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Courtesy Sometimes little things can make a big difference. Consider the humble tube of toothpaste: Americans throw out more than a billion of them a year. And since most are made of sheets of plastic and aluminum, they can be difficult to recycle. [Tom’s of Maine](https://www.tomsofmaine.com/ "undefined")’s new recyclable tube is the first to use several grades of high-­density ­polyethylene—the same stuff used to make recyclable plastic bottles. Parent company Colgate-­Palmolive plans to incorporate the design more widely among its brands and will share its approach with other manufacturers, in hopes that recyclable tubes become an industry standard._—Simmone Shah_ **Buy now:** [Tom’s of Maine Recyclable Tube](https://amzn.to/36Ffv8R "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2020/5911424/toms-recyclable-tube/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2020/5911424/toms-recyclable-tube/"},"headline":"A Cool New Tube","datePublished":"2020-11-19T13:54:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:46:13.421Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2020/5911424/toms-recyclable-tube/","keywords":["list","franchise","best inventions","Best Inventions 2020"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7160b6fdfc5d2b34/698a144bb21a9c251f504410/best-inventions-of-2020-Toms-Recyclable-Tube-0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7160b6fdfc5d2b34/698a144bb21a9c251f504410/best-inventions-of-2020-Toms-Recyclable-Tube-0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2020/5911424/toms-recyclable-tube/","name":"A Cool New Tube"}}]}] ```