Member portrait: Tetra Pak 

In each issue of the Bioplastics Newsletter, we present some facts about a member of European Bioplastics. This month, Anke Hampel, Innovation and Sustainability Director of Tetra Pak, shares some interesting insights on her company. 

5 facts about Tetra Pak

  1. A one litre Tetra Pak® carton package is typically made of approximately 70% paperboard, 25% plastic and 5% aluminum. This high share of renewable materials helps to feature a lower carbon footprint than alternative options, such as glass, plastic, or metal packages, as concluded by a 2020 life cycle assessment carried out on behalf of Tetra Pak. The study states, for example, that if for one full year consumers and food producers in Europe would choose beverages packed in Tetra Brik® Edge Aseptic 1L packages with Light-Cap™ 30 openings instead of PET bottles, this would save the equivalent of all CO2 emissions produced by 60,500 cars. 
  2. As part of our journey towards the world’s most sustainable food package – one that is solely made of renewable or recycled materials, is fully recyclable and carbon neutral – we’re continuously exploring sustainable alternatives that shift us from high-carbon, virgin, fossil-based materials to low-carbon, renewable and responsibly sourced ones. Besides introducing recycled materials that can meet our high food safety standards and accelerating our work in the ‘design for recycling’ area – by simplifying the packaging material structure, reducing the usage of virgin, fossil-based resources and increasing the share of paper – we are steadily expanding the usage of renewable plant-based polymers. 
  3. In 2014, we were the first in our industry to introduce a package made fully from plant-based renewable materials. Manufactured with paperboard and sugarcane-based plastic, the Tetra Rex® Plant-based package is fully renewable. Today, we’ve delivered more than 3.5 billion of such packages to customers around the world and, last year, we were the 1st to launch Tetra Rex® Plant-based packaging certified as carbon neutral by Carbon Trust. 
  4. We have accelerated investments so that all our European factories are now capable of producing plant-based polymer coating for cart