# Cardboard lip balm tubes



## Carolyne Thrasher

I went ahead and shelled out 15 bucks to get a sample box of paper balm tubes from Benny’s Balms (Etsy). I’ll report back in a week or so how well they hold up to the pocket and car test. Am hopeful but guarded.


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## decisions

Did you check SKS?  They have some too - they are expensive though


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## Lin19687

I thought about these since I live is a VERY recycle type state.  All of my wrappings are recycle and I don't use plastic -- other then tubs for butters.
But I really didn't want to run the edge on my lip and get a cardboard cut.................. yes.... leave it to me to get one of these.
I am the one that always have a cut on my from 'something'

There is a Bee company that sells lip balm bees wax that uses these.  Not sure what else is in their product but I think it is mainly beeswax when I peeked.


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## cmzaha

I tried a lip balm in a paper tube and hated it. I found the edge became soft over time, I guess I tend to not roll my balm up far enough or if the balm itself softens in the summer it gets to messy. So I simply will not purchase a balm in a cardboard tube, or any other type of balm in cardboard.


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## shunt2011

I too tried them and didn't like them at all.   I never tried to sell them I just tested them with myself and family.


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## amd

curious kitten here. I have not seen them around my area, but was aware of their existence. I would like to try them for personal use at least - I go through a LOT of lip balm which was part of the reason for making it - and feel a bit guilty tossing that empty tube, but too grossed out to recycle it for another (personal) lip balm use. I suspect my current recipe would need some tweaking as it's a really "light" balm. I may wander off to see if there's some on Amazon... either a lip balm to buy or the tubes...


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## Daisy

A few months ago I purchased a cardboard packaged Lip Balm from Juniper Seed Mercantile and it's still holding up pretty well.
It's sturdy and the edge has not softened. I wonder what their source is!


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## Lin19687

Daisy said:


> A few months ago I purchased a cardboard packaged Lip Balm from Juniper Seed Mercantile and it's still holding up pretty well.
> It's sturdy and the edge has not softened. I wonder what their source is!


It is probably more their recipe then the tube.

I just looked at their site.  NOT legal labeling on the soaps.
'I cut them close to 2.5 oz' ......  I stop looking at anyone's soap if it is NOT labeled correctly.  That just shows me that they should not be selling anything.

sorry that just chaps my patookus


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## Daisy

The subject matter was cardboard packaging. I believe we are trying to find sources for the same.
I have the package in my hand and it is very well made.
I shall wait to hear from Carolyne once she does her testing.


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## cmzaha

Daisy said:


> The subject matter was cardboard packaging. I believe we are trying to find sources for the same.
> I have the package in my hand and it is very well made.
> I shall wait to hear from Carolyne once she does her testing.


...and sometimes we tend to give a little OT information. Just kinda goes that way plus the OP did not state she was looking where to purchase the paper tubes but she ordered some and will update how she likes them.


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## shunt2011

I agree with cmzaha. She didn’t ask where to purchase. We expressed our experience with using them.  

@Daisy you are free to try them yourself as well. Everyone likes different things sometimes.


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## cerelife

WSP started carrying these a few months ago:
http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/0.3-ounce-paperboard-lip-tube-cap-push-up.aspx
And also paperboard jars:
http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/containers/paperboard-containers/jars.aspx
Personally I'm a little grossed out by this concept and would most likely never buy anything packaged this way , but that's just me.
I thought I would share for others who are into/looking for this kind of packaging.


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## Lin19687

Ya know, nice idea about the cardboard stuff, but you CAN NOT recycle oil-soiled cardboard.
They exclude pizza boxes for this exact reason.

I wouldn't want to use the lip balm tube but maybe the jars if it really could be recycled.


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## earlene

I have not seen these before.  I do like the idea of them because they should easily compost, whereas plastic is around for millennia.


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## IrishLass

I for one won't be buying any cardboard lip balm tubes. At the rate that my resident nephew's lip balm (made by me, packaged in plastic tubes) seems to have made it into my washing machine via his pants pockets, I'd probably have to fork out money for a new washer if they were packaged in cardboard. lol The plastic tubes hold up great, by the way, and my balm actually comes out unscathed!

Never believe your 21-year-old nephew when he tells you he emptied out all his pockets before putting them in the hamper. After 3 times of finding his tube of lip balm in my washer,  I'm double-checking before anything goes into the wash.


IrishLass


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## Lin19687

HA, I always check pockets for my 28 y/o son... Plus I get to keep all the cash I find   and he knows it .
he leave a lot of little cash laying around.
I also get to keep what I find on his floor.  So I don't mind picking up his clothes for the $2 to $10 I find


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## geniash

Soiled cardboard tube cannot be recycled, this is true. But one can compost it! There are 4 Rs in recycling: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot.


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## cmzaha

I also do not think they are all that sanitary. The might be compostable but how many people really compost.


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## Lin19687

cmzaha said:


> The might be compostable but how many people really compost.



Most people don't compost.  Even around here, we are very recycle type people, you really have to have the area to do that too


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## earlene

Some communities compost for the consumers.  I am not sure how common that is overall across this or other nations.  But in every community where I have lived that collected a separate can for yard waste (here and in California), that yard waste is composted by the collection agency.  Even when they did that where I lived, I still did my own composting, but we just don't do it anymore since we don't garden as much as previously.

However, in our community the cardboard tubes with lip balm would not be allowed in the yard waste container because of the waxes, oils and what not.  So without actual home-site composting, it would have to end up in the regular trash.  In spite of that, it would still deteriorate very quickly at the dump, and eventually turn to compost as it filtered down to the bottom of the rubbish pile.  Knowing that, I would be be willing to give them a try if I ever run across one.  

I'd probably have to alter the way I use lip balm tubes though.  Meaning, I wouldn't feel it safe to keep in my pocket or leave in my car because the added heat would probably cause enough softening of the contents causing some infiltration and softening of the cardboard.


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## cerelife

cmzaha said:


> I also do not think they are all that sanitary. The might be compostable but how many people really compost.


We actually DO compost everything possible in a section of our garden, but I'm with you - I just don't feel like these are sanitary.


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## Gaisy59

Just a thought, and this won’t work for selling, but for personal reuse once the plastic tube has been used up would boiling to sterilize it and then refilling sound like a plan? I dislike plastics like everyone else, unfortunately plastic is part of our society.


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## amd

Gaisy59 said:


> for personal reuse once the plastic tube has been used up would boiling to sterilize it and then refilling


I've tried this with tubes, it's a major pain in the keister. Many times the twist mechanism won't roll back down after use, or won't roll up after "cooking". Others experiences may vary, of course, this is based on what I've tried. However, I have had excellent luck with the round eos (or similar brands). I was really surprised how easy they were to take apart, clean, and refill. Unfortunately they are not meant for jean pockets, so I use them at my desk.


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## Susie

I reused my lip balm tubes for years before stopping using lip balm altogether. (But that's another discussion entirely.) I used dry q-tips to clean every last bit out, then de-greaser saturated q-tips to remove all residue, then run them through the dishwasher with a full load of dishwasher detergent.  Worked a charm.  Yes, I know that I used all those "not good for the environment" q-tips and degreaser, but you have to choose your battles.


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## Gaisy59

Susie said:


> I reused my lip balm tubes for years before stopping using lip balm altogether. (But that's another discussion entirely.)
> 
> Great so it is possible!



Ooops that reply came out in ur quote Susie, but i am so glad it worked

Susie can i ask why you no longer use lip balm?


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## Susie

Gaisy59 said:


> Susie can i ask why you no longer use lip balm?



Sure, I didn't want to OT in this thread, but I can now.

I stopped using lip balm because my lips (and many other's lips, apparently) started just cracking and peeling day and night no matter what I put on them.  Using lip balm (other than rarely on specific occasions) becomes a vicious cycle.  You use it, which prevents the natural shedding of the skin cells by clumping them to your lip, and it makes your lips feel more chapped than when you started.  Continue this on and on for years, and you have lips that are no longer properly making skin cells properly.  So they crack, and they peel.  Messy mess.  

The bad news is that it takes about a month of misery to get your lips back to what should have been their normal function to begin with.  

The good news is that you are no longer addicted to lip balm, and you learn that chapped lips last about 24 hours, and you can use lip balm only when going out in a super dry windstorm.  After all, if you don't apply lip balm to your eyelids and skin of your nose, your lips don't need it either.


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## Gaisy59

Wow good answer! I havent used lip balm in a long time but only because i usually scraped it off with my teeth after a couple if minutes. I dont do that with lipstick so i guess i dont like the feel of balm on my lips. When i go out in the sun i have a natural color lipstick to help protect the schmackers lol.


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## Carolyne Thrasher

Update: so I tried a bigger tube for solid lotion sticks and it was a bit of a pain to keep from getting smudges on the tube. After a few days of setting inside and just occasionally looking at the 2 samples I made, I concluded that these would be problematic for customers. I just didn’t like them. Totally bummed by this but I’m going to try small glass pots for lip balm at my next market to see how those do. I think that’s the best plastic free option for now. 

I did buy a box of compostable plastic-like drinking straws, made out of corn starch, from Amazon. They really feel like plastic. I stuck one in a flower pot outside to document its breakdown. Hopefully compostable packaging for cosmetics soon.


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## Lin19687

@Carolyne Thrasher   Can you post a link the the Straws you got ?


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## apothecary

cmzaha said:


> I also do not think they are all that sanitary. The might be compostable but how many people really compost.



I do. Most people I know do. I do both city and home composting. 

I also use these tubes, I like them a lot and so do the testers and customers who've used them.


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## Carolyne Thrasher

UPDATE: I tried both lip balm and lotion sticks in the cardboard tubes and decided that they won’t work for selling. They get grease marks all over. So it looks like tins for lip balm and lotion bars it is. For me anyway.



Lin19687 said:


> @Carolyne Thrasher   Can you post a link the the Straws you got ?


@Lin19687  here’s a screenshot of the straws. Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. Life has a way of throwing punches and curveballs. One punch was a nephew died and a happy curveball was a nephew born.


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## cmzaha

I do not find the cardboard tubes to be sanitary after use. At least plastic containers can be wiped off with alcohol.


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## SoaperForLife

I haven't experimented with the lip balm tubes but I have with the lotion (deodorant) type tubes.  I haven't found them to be greasy but putting the cap back on once you've pushed the product up for application is pretty much impossible without a bit of effort to push everything back down.  Sounds silly but the struggle is real folks...


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## Rosemary

My heart wants to use them, but I’m not sure they’re practical. I’ve also ordered a sample pack from Etsy, shakers from Amazon, and push ups from a packaging group I belong to.  Living in the Mid-Atlantic, it’s still too hot here to leave anything in fluctuating temps/ humidity.  Maybe they’re seasonal only, though I don’t want to have two different packages...


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## SideDoorSoaps

I think the lip balm tubes are so cute especially the .25 Oz ones but labeling them are soooo tedious!


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## Maria Maria

Is Cardboard better then plastic? Is cutting trees and using water better? Hemp is great but again water(also $2 for an empty tube). the moral issues
I'm not a tree hugger I just love the outdoors and nature.


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## geniash

One would think “where do these little plastic tubes go once I’m done using them?” They take hundreds of years to break down and think of how many other “things” will be added to them in the next hundreds of years. They are not recyclable and must go to landfill. Vs cardboard tube disintegrates to compost fairly easily and fast. Think globally.


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## SoaperForLife

There's always the tiny tin option....


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## Kari Howie

SoaperForLife said:


> There's always the tiny tin option....


How does that help? Is it refillable?


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## Maria Maria

I reuse by way of cleaning and sanitizing both metal and plastic.


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## Kari Howie

So do customers bring their empty tins back for a refill?


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## SoaperForLife

Kari Howie said:


> How does that help? Is it refillable?


You certainly could refill/reuse a tin.  Even if you didn't reuse it for your lip balm, they can easily be used to store little odds and ends like straight pins or beads.


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## Maria Maria

Kari Howie said:


> So do customers bring their empty tins back for a refill?


yes, all my products. I have on label RRReuse by bringing back your container for discount.  If you eat at restaurant its the same.  wash and sanitize.  They get their own container back.  Its pretty easy, if i was a big company it may be hard but prolly not if there was more money.


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## Spice

This is an idea that is out of the box thinking.


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## Kari Howie

Maria Maria said:


> yes, all my products. I have on label RRReuse by bringing back your container for discount.  If you eat at restaurant its the same.  wash and sanitize.  They get their own container back.  Its pretty easy, if i was a big company it may be hard but prolly not if there was more money.


That is fabulous! I admire your dedication. I think I’m going to try something like that, too! Thanks, for the inspiration!


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## Lin19687

How are you sanitizing plastic lip balm tubes? @Maria Maria  ?


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## Susie

Maria Maria said:


> yes, all my products. I have on label RRReuse by bringing back your container for discount.  If you eat at restaurant its the same.  wash and sanitize.  They get their own container back.  Its pretty easy, if i was a big company it may be hard but prolly not if there was more money.



Sorry, but you just have no way of knowing what kind of conditions those containers were kept in.  I would never, ever have someone else's used container return to me.  Nope.  They can re-use and recycle it themselves.


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## amd

Susie said:


> I would never, ever have someone else's used container return to me. Nope. They can re-use and recycle it themselves.


I agree. I also question how clean I can really get things, so despite customers asking me to refill jars for them, I don't do it. If I improperly clean and reuse a container, I would hate to make someone sick because it wasn't clean enough. I would also hate the damage done to my reputation by selling a product that went bad. Yes, I have business insurance, but I don't want to test it.


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