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The Waste Biz: How To Get That Last Bit Of Toothpaste Out

nearly empty toothpaste tube
nearly empty toothpaste tube
Photo credit: Fuzzy Gerdes at flickr cc

Ever struggle with a bottle, tube, or other container to get the last bit of product out? Of course you have… and, according to a 2009 article from Consumer Reports, we may be throwing away 15% of these products because we can’t get to those last bits.

Liquiglide is a coating developed by an MIT professor and one of his graduate students that might be able to address this kind of waste. Designed to make “the inside of the bottle permanently wet and slippery,” this technology could make such waste a thing of the past. Take a look at how a bottle coated with Liquiglide handles mustard:

Mustard Bottle w/ LiquiGlide Coating from LiquiGlide on Vimeo.

The start-up has signed a licensing agreement with Elmer’s Products, and recently received $7 million in venture funding. If we can get all of the toothpaste out of a tube, we’d consider this priceless…

In other waste-related news…

The F-150 Gets a Little Greener: Those monster Ford pick-up trucks that everyone just loves will get just a shade greener with the introduction of REPREVE recycled plastic fibers into the interiors. According to the company, the use of this material in the F-150 “will divert more than 5 million plastic bottles from landfills.” (via Waste Dive)

100% Recycled Aluminum Food Containers and Packaging: That’s how Atlanta-based Novelis is describing its new Evercycle line of food packaging and cookware products. The first item released from the line, which was “designed for aluminum food containers, including steam, table and baking pans,” contains up to 90% post-consumer aluminum; the remaining material is customer manufacturing scrap. (also via Waste Dive)

Wiserg Gets Fresh Funding for Food Waste Recycling: We touched on Wiserg last month: they make machinery that breaks down food waste into liquid fertilizer. This week, the company announced an infusion of $11 million.

Know of other interesting activities in the waste biz? Share them with us in the comments…

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