“A package should save more than it costs”
In this special article, Nazanin Moradi, Tetra Pak’s sustainability expert, explains why the company’s long-standing commitment to limiting its environmental impact is more relevant now than ever before.
Print17 September 2019
“A package should save more than it costs.”
That was the belief of Dr Ruben Rausing, the founder of Tetra Pak, the world’s leading food processing and packaging solutions company. His vision was to create a beverage carton package that would distribute food safely while only using a minimal amount of plastic.
Even today, on average, over 70% of the material that makes up Tetra Pak cartons is paperboard – a plant-based and renewable material. Increasingly, we are also using renewable plant-based materials to replace the fossil-based plastics used in beverage cartons such as plant-based polymers produced from sugar cane.
Research* shows that beverage cartons have a lower carbon footprint than alternative packaging, and harnessing more plant-based materials decreases the reliance on the Earth’s finite natural resources.
Furthermore, all Tetra Pak paperboard is sourced from Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™)-certified forests and other controlled sources, and we can now supply FSC -labelled packages from anywhere in the world.
Cartons can also be recycled and separated into a paperboard pulp and plastic and aluminium material streams, which can be made into new products.
Tetra Pak is committed to ongoing investment in environmental innovation to make our processing and packaging equipment even more energy efficient. We also have a long-term ambition that our entire packaging material portfolio will be made from 100 percent renewable materials, without compromising safety, quality or functionality.
Creating this ideal package will require significant innovation and development, and we are already working hard to deliver it.
*IFEU meta-analysis: LCA studies on beverage cartons and alternative packaging
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