Ask a recycler why pump bottles are difficult and you will hear the same answer: too many materials in one small object.
Where the metal is
In a standard lotion pump the spring returns the actuator after each stroke. It is usually SUS304 stainless steel, and it sits inside a housing made of PP, surrounded by PE seals, with a glass ball in the valve. Separating those materials is labour-intensive, so in practice the whole pump often ends up as residue.
The plastic spring alternative
Our all-plastic series 206 replaces the metal spring with an engineering plastic (TPEE) design. The result is a 2.0 ml pump built from PP, PE and TPEE only.
- Recyclable as one piece — no metal to remove before processing.
- 5,000 press cycles — the plastic spring is cycle-tested before release.
- Metal-detector friendly — filling lines that reject metal contamination are not tripped by the dispenser itself.
- Lighter — a small but real difference in freight cost at container scale.
What to ask your supplier
If recyclability is on your brief, ask three questions: which materials contact the formula, is there any metal in the mechanism, and can the pump be processed without disassembly. Those three answers tell you more than a sustainability claim on a brochure.
Backed by a certified system
Our environmental management system is certified to ISO 14001:2015 by Intertek, and our quality system to ISO 9001:2015 — so the material declarations we issue with your order come from an audited process.