Photo credit: Courtesy of Colgate-Palmolive
With 53 TRUE zero-waste certifications in 27 countries across six continents, Colgate-Palmolive is a world leader in zero waste.
Colgate-Palmolive is a caring company that is reimagining a healthier future for all people, their pets and our planet through innovative growth strategies. Selling oral care, home care, personal care and pet nutrition products in more than 200 countries and territories, the company is committed to sustainability through its 2030 Sustainability and Social Impact Strategy. Rooted in three key ambitions—driving social impact, helping millions of homes and preserving our environment—the company's strategy prioritizes value-creating initiatives designed to drive measurable results.
TRUE certification
In support of the company's strategy, Colgate-Palmolive is committed to leading with zero-waste facilities. By the end of 2025, Colgate-Palmolive had achieved 53 TRUE zero-waste certifications across 27 countries on six continents, with 23 more sites in progress.
Before TRUE: Building a zero-waste ambition
Colgate-Palmolive’s zero-waste journey began well before it earned its first TRUE certification. In 2010, the company set its first landfill waste reduction target and began collecting detailed waste data. To build momentum and excitement around the new program, in 2011 it launched an internal “Zero Waste to Landfill” award program.
The company met its first landfill waste reduction target in 2015 and achieved its first TRUE-certified factory in 2017. In 2019, Colgate received a GBCI Leadership Award, which recognized its commitment to sustainability. By 2022, it had reached 32 TRUE certifications in 19 countries across five continents. Today, the company is working toward advancing TRUE certifications across all operating geographies.
Image courtesy of Colgate-Palmolive.
Why TRUE
Colgate-Palmolive joined USGBC in 2007 and is a Platinum member. Because it already had experience using LEED, the world’s most widely used green building rating system, the company saw TRUE as a credible, third-party standard that could be applied across global operations.
TRUE goes beyond material diversion rates to look upstream and downstream across the supply chain, as well as to engage employees, redesign systems and find new uses for materials that might otherwise be wasted.
According to Vance Merolla, senior vice president of global sustainability, Colgate-Palmolive, “TRUE gave us a common language and a common standard. It helped our teams move from individual waste-reduction projects to a global system for performance, accountability and continuous improvement.”
How Colgate-Palmolive scaled TRUE
Colgate-Palmolive’s TRUE portfolio grew from its first certified factory in 2017 to a global program spanning regions, facility types and markets. Early momentum came through manufacturing and Hill’s Pet Nutrition facilities in the U.S. The program then expanded across Latin America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, including warehouses and offices. Today’s Colgate-Palmolive portfolio of sites with TRUE certifications features the first TRUE-certified facilities in Latin America, continental Europe, India, China and Vietnam.
The operational work behind certification
TRUE certification isn’t just about where material goes after it becomes waste. It asks how waste is created—and how systems can be redesigned to avoid it.
Composting difficult waste streams
Some of Colgate-Palmolive’s most important work has focused on materials that are difficult to divert through conventional recycling channels. Scrap dental cream, for example, took years of persistence before oral care facilities identified local composting solutions. Other sites have built composting into daily operations, including the Petaling Jaya plant in Malaysia, which established on-site composting for organic waste.
Reusing materials and reducing disposables
TRUE motivates teams to work with suppliers to reduce waste before it gets to Colgate-Palmolive. At multiple sites, teams have replaced disposable cardboard cores on packaging rolls with reusable plastic cores. Another vendor replaced disposable Styrofoam blocks with recyclable cardboard stabilizers.
Separating difficult toothpaste waste streams
Rejected toothpaste tubes were notoriously hard to recycle because the paste and packaging had to be separated. Local teams developed a process to cut the bottoms off tubes, squeeze out the paste, clean the tubes, and send the laminate to be shredded and repurposed—in one case into flip-flops!
Empty toothpaste tubes are made into a laminate sheet, which can be used for door panels, benches, etc. Photo courtesy of Colgate-Palmolive.
Redesigning waste collection and reuse systems
Facilities have also improved internal waste management systems. Some sites installed correctly sized collection bins to improve sorting and reduce contamination. Others transformed single-use materials into multicycle assets, including reusing bulk packaging bags as on-site waste containers.
Community cleanups and local engagement
Employee "Green Teams" routinely lead community cleanups, host sorting events and foster a culture of environmental stewardship. These activities make waste reduction visible, practical and shared across the workforce.
At Tom’s of Maine, employees are encouraged to use 5% of their paid time (up to 12 days a year) for volunteering. Whether repairing local trails, removing invasive species or organizing beach cleanups, employees are out there doing the work to keep our communities—and nature—thriving. Photo courtesy of Colgate-Palmolive.
Business results
Luciano Sieber, chief supply chain officer, Colgate-Palmolive, says, “Waste reduction is not separate from operational excellence. Every time a site finds a better use for a material, simplifies sorting or works with a supplier to eliminate unnecessary packaging, it is creating business value.”
That connection between waste reduction and operational performance shows up across Colgate-Palmolive’s TRUE portfolio.
Lower waste-hauling and disposal costs
At the Anzio, Italy, plant, Colgate-Palmolive generated approximately 139,000 euros ($161,000) in off-site recycling revenue over one year while keeping nonhazardous off-site treatment costs to just 324 euros ($375). The Emporia, Kansas, site recorded over $60,000 in savings, including landfill budget savings, pallet buybacks and recycling returns.
Other sites found value in simple operational changes. The Canelands, South Africa, facility saved 38,400 rand ($2,360) per year by switching from disposable plastic service ware to reusable silverware, while the Sanxiao, China, plant achieved $54,000 in annual savings by reducing the size of its toothbrush backer cards.
Reduced material use
Several projects reduced material use before it became waste. The Compiègne, France, plant improved the stretching rate and thickness of pallet plastic wrap, reducing the weight of plastic per pallet from 175 grams to 100 grams (6 ounces to 3.5 ounces) and saving roughly 38 tons of plastic film between 2017 and 2020. The Etten-Leur, Netherlands, facility cut polyethylene film used for pallet stretch hooding by 20%, reducing film use by about 12,500 kilograms (27,600 pounds) per year.
Improved sorting
At the Świdnica, Poland, facility, operators and the Green Team conducted a physical waste audit and discovered more than 26 kilograms (57 pounds) of tubes with paste mixed in with general foil and paper waste, prompting targeted retraining. At the Canelands, South Africa, facility, an audit of trash found that 72% of material labeled as general waste was actually recyclable paper.
Reuse and recycling value
Several sites have turned discarded materials into revenue or useful inputs. The Baddi, India, plant recorded more than 2.1 million rupees ($21,900) from diverting cream, powder and sludge material to local cement processors.
In Morristown, Tennessee, 384 empty drums were returned to another facility in New Jersey, keeping 12,672 pounds of drums in the production loop. In San Luis, Argentina, plastic tube scraps were upcycled into plates used to build sustainable homes.
Avoided landfill and incineration
Facilities in Baddi; Sanand, India; Goa, India; and Sri City, India, have achieved waste diversion rates of over 99%. In Morristown, Tennessee, the plant partnered with students with disabilities to remove nonrecyclable caps from premade tubes, helping divert more than 1 million tubes from landfill.
Other sites have found practical ways to avoid disposal, including a Guayaquil, Ecuador, warehouse that donated usable products to employees through an internal store and a Huangpu, China, plant that avoided an estimated 21,000 kilograms (46,300 pounds) of disposable plate and chopstick waste annually by switching to reusable tableware.
Employee engagement
Employee engagement has helped sustain these practices. Tom’s of Maine in Sanford, Maine, engaged all employees in environmental stewardship, including composting employee food scraps for use in a community garden. At the Villawood, Australia, facility, employees participated in a team-building cleanup of a nearby river area. At My Phuoc, Vietnam, a “kickoff day” encouraged employees to bring in electronic waste from home for safe disposal.
Operational resilience
At Canelands, South Africa, a continuous improvement project reduced the facility's acid storage on-site from 20 tons to less than 1 ton per month. At the Palmira, Colombia, warehouse, the transition from gasoline-powered forklifts to electric equipment reduced emissions while supporting cleaner operations.
Taken together, these examples show that zero waste is not only about diversion. Across Colgate-Palmolive’s TRUE portfolio, waste reduction is reducing costs, creating new revenue streams, improving supplier relationships, engaging employees and strengthening operations.
Waste reduction drives innovation
To further reduce waste, Colgate-Palmolive introduced a first-of-its-kind recyclable toothpaste tube in 2019. Today, Colgate-Palmolive has transitioned 98% of its toothpaste stock-keeping units in the U.S. to the recyclable tube. Globally, 96% of Colgate-Palmolive’s packaging is designed for recycling, with a target of 100% by 2030. Your community may not yet accept tubes for recycling. Check locally. Learn more on the Colgate website.
Climate and carbon connection
Waste reduction helps support climate strategy by reducing landfill-related emissions, lowering demand for virgin materials, improving operational efficiency and limiting impacts from handling, hauling and disposal. As of Dec. 31, 2025, Colgate-Palmolive reached 84% renewable electricity across its global operation and is working toward a target of 100% by 2030.
What comes next
Colgate-Palmolive’s zero-waste story is about what happens when waste reduction becomes part of how a global company manages operations, engages employees, works with suppliers and measures progress.
With 23 additional sites in progress, Colgate-Palmolive is continuing to expand its TRUE portfolio. Enhancements in TRUE v2 are expected to make it easier to onboard new sites, adapt to local infrastructure conditions, consistently document progress, and connect zero-waste work more directly to operational value and climate strategy.
For other global companies, Colgate-Palmolive is a model worth studying. TRUE gave the company a structure for scaling its ambition and demonstrates how zero waste can improve systems, reduce costs, strengthen teams and create value from materials once deemed disposable.