In June 2026, The European Tube Manufacturers Association (ETMA) presented the winners of its Tube of the Year 2026 competition during its annual meeting in Lisbon, with a seven-member jury selecting entries across aluminium, plastic, laminate, sustainability, and prototype categories. The main key features to decide the winners were packaging design, material selection, and recyclability.
Widely recognised throughout the global tube industry, the competition has become a benchmark for innovation, technical excellence, and design performance. The winning entries for 2026 once again demonstrate the tube's outstanding position in the international packaging market.
In the aluminium category, Alltub Italia was recognised for a tube developed for Rituals’ limited-edition body scrub. The packaging is designed by the brand using 100% post-consumer recycled aluminum along with a bronze-copper metallic finish and a transparent effect designed to highlight the material. The presentation of the packaging designed by the brand involves three color gradients designed without halftone printing, alongside the traditional apothecaries. The decoration creates a distinctive "alchemy" theme through rich amber tones and smoky visual effects. The design is completed with a black conical cap with matching aluminum cans used across the product range to support brand consistency.
EPL Europe received the laminate tube award for its BARBERO men’s care range, combining premium aesthetics, innovative material technology, and improved sustainability. The tubes use the company’s PLATINA ME structure, which is an HDPE-based laminate with a metallised PE layer to deliver barrier performance and also meet the EU regulatory requirements. The display of the packaging involves high-definition flexographic printing, combined with matte and selective gloss varnishes, along with large area screen printing for tactile effect and depth. The packaging, combined with selective gloss varnishes, creates a sophisticated visual contrast and is also a major growth propelling factor. The descriptive feature of the pack in the form of lightweight HDPE shoulders and color-matched slim flip-top caps to support recyclability and reduced material use also helped the brand to bag the award.
In the plastic category, Albéa Tubes was recognised for a redesigned shower gel tube for Weleda. The packaging design of the brand involves a mono-material HDPE pack combining a lightweight PE cap with a PCR Max sleeve and a reduced wall thickness of 350 μm. The packaging consists of more than 57% of post-consumer recycled content, excluding the cap, and is also designed for recycling within existing HDPE rigid packaging streams. The company also states that its PrimePrint technology enables photorealistic graphics, color vibrancy, and visual depth. The tube’s visual appearance also helped the product to get brownie points in stealing the show. The packaging of the product displays a contemporary premium look with strong shelf impact and clear brand recognition.
Albéa Tubes also received the sustainability award for its Fill-Up refill solution developed for L’Occitane. The packaging designed by the company involved mono-material PE and also an EcoTop closure. The tube is designed to be opened along designated tear lines, enabling refilling. The tube is considered an ideal alternative to refill pouches and also replicates the branding of the original bottle, and the ergonomic design of the bottle helps with clean dispensing and handling without leakage. The solution designed is perfectly compatible with the existing tube-filling equipment, according to the company. The packaging design also helps manufacturers to use existing tube-filling equipment without any additional investment.
The prototype award went to Tubex Aluminium Tubes for MonoSense, which the company describes as the “world’s first all-aluminium applicator tube”. The packaging of the product is designed from a single piece of aluminum containing 95% post-consumer recycled content. The designs help to eliminate mixed materials to simplify the recycling procedure. The applicator of the product is designed to deliver controlled and hygienic dispensing, with aluminum to provide a cooling effect on contact. The tube also provides barrier properties along with eliminating the suck-back effect, to support product integrity and make it suitable for beauty and pharmaceutical applications. With the help of circular design of the packaging, paired with functionality and enhanced user experience in a single solution, the brand represents a genuine breakthrough in the aluminum tube packaging.
European Tube Manufacturers Association (ETMA) is known to represent 46 member companies across 19 European countries that roughly produce 11 to 12 billion flexible aluminum, plastic, and laminate tubes annually.
31 July 2026
30 July 2026
30 July 2026
30 July 2026