Every time someone throws out a tube of toothpaste they’re likely also throwing away some still-usable product that they couldn’t quite squeeze out. People have different ways of trying to get that last bit out; I personally cut my tubes in half and scoop the remainder out.
But a U.K. nurse wanted a better way for people to easily use every last drop of material in a tube. Spurred by her experiences working at The Royal Free Hospital and seeing patients struggle with or waste expensive medications and creams, Susan Bell set out to build a better tube.
She founded
Butterfly Technology and now has a proof-of-concept prototype for her tube design, and even showed off how the tube works on television.
The tube contains a small flexible insert at its base that pushes whatever is in the tube forward, leaving nothing behind it.
It not only makes sure no product goes to waste, but it leaves recyclable tubes cleaner for recycling (and hopefully the insert is also recyclable), and, if the tube does get trashed, keeps substances out of the environment.
This technology might be more attractive for use with medications or pricey cosmetics, and it might not seem like much to squeeze an extra handful of uses out of a toothpaste tube, but every bit adds up.
