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Web Fact Sheet Tetra Paks

Tetra Pak cartons are difficult to recycle due to their composite material made of cardboard, plastic, and foil layers. The cartons must be kept separate from other recyclables during collection. Most Tetra Paks collected in the UK are sent to Sweden for recycling, but only 75% can be recycled as the other materials must be incinerated. Additionally, food residue left in cartons can contaminate other recyclables if collected together. While Tetra Pak aims to improve recycling of its products, the company's proposed collection program has sustainability concerns and rejects alternatives that transport lightweight materials long distances when recycling rates are low. The local authority focuses on encouraging recycling of materials like paper, plastic, and glass that can

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Shazia Imran
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51 views

Web Fact Sheet Tetra Paks

Tetra Pak cartons are difficult to recycle due to their composite material made of cardboard, plastic, and foil layers. The cartons must be kept separate from other recyclables during collection. Most Tetra Paks collected in the UK are sent to Sweden for recycling, but only 75% can be recycled as the other materials must be incinerated. Additionally, food residue left in cartons can contaminate other recyclables if collected together. While Tetra Pak aims to improve recycling of its products, the company's proposed collection program has sustainability concerns and rejects alternatives that transport lightweight materials long distances when recycling rates are low. The local authority focuses on encouraging recycling of materials like paper, plastic, and glass that can

Uploaded by

Shazia Imran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tetra Pak

Fact Sheet
Why cant I recycle Tetra Pak plastic?
Tetra Pak is composite packaging consisting of a coated
cardboard outer layer, an inner layer coated with foil, often
with a plastic pouring spout. This makes it difficult to
recycle for several reasons.
Because the cardboard is coated, normal paper and
cardboard reprocessing systems cannot break down the
fibres, there are no UK mills that can take this material.
This means that if they are to be collected for recycling
they have to be kept separate from all of the other
materials. If they were included with either the paper or
the cardboard they would have to be removed.
Most of the Tetra Paks collected in the UK are sent to
a plant in Sweden for recycling. In this process some
of the cardboard is recovered but the foil, plastic and
the cardboard that cannot be separated has to be
incinerated. This means that only 75% of the packs are
actually recycled.
Most Tetra Pak cartons contain food or drink residue,
which also acts as a contaminant in reprocessing and can
contaminate paper or cardboard if collected together.
Tetra Pak cartons make up less then 0.5% of residual
waste.
Because Tetra Paks are light weight and stackable they
are very attractive to retailers for liquid, or semi liquid
products. There is a trend to use them more often in
replacement of traditional 100% recyclable bottles and
tins.
Tetra Pak are keen to improve their environmental
credentials, especially as packaging regulations mean
that they must either be responsible for recycling a large
proportion of their product or pay for their obligations
through the Packaging Recovery Note system (PRNs).
The company has offered a collection model to local
authorities in which they supply a limited number of

collection banks and pay for their servicing for a two year
period.
While the initial offer from Tetra Pak is attractive, there
are concerns about how the scheme would be developed
and funded after the two year period and if collection of
the cartons could be managed throughout the county.
Other high performing councils in the UK have examined
the offer in detail and have also rejected it.
It is also not considered to be environmentally beneficial
to transport such lightweight material such a long
distance in order to recycle such a low proportion of
the material. When a sustainable system for collecting
and reprocessing Tetra Pak cartons is identified it will be
introduced across the county.
We have a policy to reduce waste to landfill and to
increase recycling participation following seven key
principles contained in its Waste Reduction Strategy.
Where facilities are not available to recycle certain types
of packaging, the advice is to try to avoid it by choosing
recyclable alternatives. In most cases glass or plastic
bottles and glass jars can be substituted for Tetra Paks.
We recognises that committed recyclers wish to divert as
much material as possible. But as over 20% of the waste
that is sent to landfill in the county is material that could
be recycled in the traditional collection systems, we are
concentrating our efforts in trying to encourage as many
people as possible to commit to recycling their paper,
plastic bottles, cans and glass.

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