World’s most sustainable package by 2030: Tetra Pak

Tetra Pak is working towards creating the world’s most sustainable package by 2030. “Achieving sustainability is no longer a choice, it is the only option we have to preserve our planet for generations to come,” said Niels Hougaard, managing director of Tetra Pak Arabia.

In an interview with Khaleej Times at the Gulfood Manufacturing 2022, Hougaard said: “While we deploy technology and innovation to help us in our journey, the vision can only become a reality through collaboration among all of us — governments, businesses, and consumers.”

In the UAE, Tetra Pak is working with the UAE Committee for Circular Economy to accelerate the adoption of greener ways. As a first, Tetra Pak signed a pact with Union Paper Mills to increase the collection and recycling of used beverage cartons in the UAE. The company has similar partnerships in Saudi Arabia with Saudi Top Plastics (STP) and Obeikan Paper Industries (OPI) and has invested around 2.5 million euros over the last few years, which led to the commissioning of plants. The two plants recycle 25 tonnes of cartons a day.

The two plants are a classic example of how a circular economy can be built over time. The paper mill extracts paper fibre and recycles it into new products such as tissue boxes and other folded cartons like cereal packages and powder detergent boxes. The remaining plastic and aluminium (polyAl) resulting from the carton recycling process then become raw material for polyAl recyclers, such as STP. The polyAl is converted into pellets (granules) and used for several applications, mainly in the injection moulding sector. It is being widely used to build furniture for home and office use.

“Over the last five to six years, we have worked very ambitiously in the region to establish the first recycling hub. We started with the largest paper mill in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bringing the technology, competence, and working very closely to be able to recycle the virgin fibres of our cartons, which are from sustainable forests. We plan to replicate this in the UAE with our latest partnership with UPM,” said Hougaard.

These efforts are part of the company’s aspirations to be net zero by 2030. By 2050, it plans to clone this success across its value chain. “We are taking action on mitigating climate change by decarbonising our operations, products, and our value chain. In 2021, we reduced our operational footprint GHG emissions (scopes 1, 2 and business travel) by 36 per cent compared to our 2019 baseline, and we plan to continue that progress,” added Hougaard.

Tetra Pak is among the largest food packaging and processing companies in the world. It was in 1952 when the company ushered in a new era in the packaging and transportation of food by replacing glass milk bottles with cartons made from layers of paperboard and polyethene. The aseptic carton, mainly made of paper with an ultra-thin layer of aluminium foil that allowed heat-treated milk to remain fresh and is widely used to date, followed in 1961. Half a century later, the company has now embarked on a journey to create the world’s most sustainable packaging by 2030.

Of the 500 million euros earmarked for innovation annually, about a fifth at 100 million euros is being spent on sustainability. “We are also putting roughly 40 million euros a year in recycling. We have up to 200 partners globally that help us recycle around 50 billion of our packages into new products,” he explained.

The drive to build sustainable products has pushed Tetra Pak to look for circular solutions by designing recyclable liquid food packaging, using recycled and renewable materials, and expanding collection and recycling to keep materials in use and out of landfills. “In 2021, we invested €40 million in collection and recycling infrastructure contributing to 50 billion cartons being collected and sent to recyclers. Tetra Pak sold 17.6 billion plant-based packages and 10.8 billion plant-based caps in the past year, enabling the saving of 95 kilo tonnes of CO2, compared to fossil-based plastic,” Hougaard further added.

Consumer consciousness of plastic waste is rising sharply and Tetra Pak is paying heed to this call. “We act for nature through responsible sourcing practices and strategic partnerships to conserve and restore biodiversity, mitigate and adapt to climate change and contribute to global water resilience. Going beyond ensuring 100 per cent of the paperboard in our packages comes from Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) certified forests and other controlled sources, we have several impactful initiatives underway,” said Hougaard.

Building stronger links with governments, recycling mills, and waste companies will help Tetra Pak succeed in its long-term ambition to construct cartons entirely out of renewable and recycled material, including recycled plastic.

Suneeti Ahuja-Kohli is an independent journalist.

• KT Network