![]() ![]() As well as talking at length about Tetra Paks being recyclable, they inform us that Tetra Pak source FSC-certified wood for 41% of their cartons worldwide (2013 figure). Tetra Pak have devoted a significant amount of their website space to telling customers how sustainable their containers are. If Tetra Paks are recyclable, why aren’t they green? Let’s look at the different components, where they come from and what happens to them once the cartons are empty. Where is the ‘cycle’ part of the process?.How are the post-recycled materials used?.How much energy is involved in the process?.Whilst you watch them, think about the following: ![]() The second is a UK/German video that runs for less than two minutes. The first is a somewhat cheesy video from India, which seems to be a Tetra Pak promotional video that lasts four minutes. I’ve found not one, but two different videos that explain how Tetra Paks are recycled: how they are sorted into their component parts and what happens to these parts. Products that are downcycled often only undergo a limited number of cycles (maybe as few as 2) before reaching the end of their useful lives and ending up in landfill.įor Tetra Pak to be truly recycled, these layers of paperboard, polyethylene and aluminium would need to be separated out, and reformed to make new Tetra Pak cartons. When a product doesn’t get turned back into the same product, but one of lesser quality (as with plastic recycling) it isn’t recycled, it’s downcycled. There is no loss of quality, so this recycling of glass can go on forever. The idea is to take a used product and turn them back into the same type of product, such as glass bottles being melted down and formed into new glass bottles. Whilst recycling can be thought of as a way of converting waste into a new material, more accurately it means a process to return material to a previous stage in a process that operates as a cycle. When a Tetra Pak is recycled, all these component parts need to be separated out. These different components give Tetra Paks their unique properties: keeping the liquids in but the microbes out, and a strong but lightweight container. Tetra Paks are made up of a number of components which are layered: paperboard (made from wood), polyethylene (a type of plastic) and aluminum. That sounds great, but I was left wondering…how exactly are Tetra Paks recycled? Aren’t they made up of layers of different material? Is it even possible to separate them, and then what happens to the materials?Īfter some investigating, my conclusion is that Tetra Paks aren’t a green solution at all. Once they’re used, Tetra Pak assure us that they can be recycled. These containers allow food to be protected from contamination by bacteria and other microbes, meaning products can sit on the shelf for months without going bad. You can also find products like chopped tomatoes packaged in this way. Tetra Paks are the cartons you find in the shops that are used to package long-life milk, juice and various other liquids. ![]()
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