Tetra Pak Recycling ♻️ – Can I Recycle Tetra Pak Cartons?
Tetra Pak Recycling ♻️: In our never-ending quest for sustainability, we always seek ways on how to repurpose and give new life to various types of materials.
One thing that came to my mind when I said this are Tetra Pak cartons. Composed of paper, cardboard, and plastic; they are truly made to protect both food and the environment. But are they really sustainable as promised? Let us delve deeper into the topic at hand.
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A Bit About Waster
Before we discuss the topic of Tetra Pak recycling, let me share with you more information about Waster.
We here at Waster provide you with innovative solutions for you and your business’s waste management and recycling needs. Furthermore, we provide flexible, 30-day contracts instead of the typical lock-in contracts, which proves to be better.
Click on the blue button to learn more.
READ: Book Disposal Recycling 📚
Everything About Tetra Pak Recycling You Should Know
Tetra Pak cartons have a material called liquid paperboard (LPB) created out of paperboard with layers of plastic. Additionally, manufacturers also add in a thin layer of aluminium foil in the case of long-life products.
Tetra Pak cartons were developed with this in mind: make it as sustainable and as recyclable as possible. It was created back in the 1950s and sold as a tetrahedron-shaped carton. Along with its evolution in shape, its environmental impact also evolved. In fact, Planet Ark listed 4 facts about Tetra Pak Cartons. The listed facts state that:
- Australia and worldwide are pushing for more facilities to recycle Tetra Pak cartons – Since China restricted waste, Tetra Pak recycling has become less common. Efforts to set up recycling solutions in Australia has since then been set up. As such, we can still recycle the containers through container deposit schemes. Look at NSW’s return and earn website.
- They have renewable packaging – Tetra Pak’s cartons are made from 75 per cent renewable materials.
- Production of cartons involves renewable electricity – if that is not enough to convince you of Tetra Pak’s environmental awareness, did you also know that they have already reached using 50 per cent renewable electricity in just two years since its start? Furthermore, they plan to increase it to 100 per cent by 2030.
- Recyclers can turn Tetra Pak cartons into all sorts of products – they turn the cartons into items – or end products – such as cardboard, egg cartons, paper towels, roofing tiles, plastic crates and furniture.
Maybe It’s Not Sustainable As We Think It Is?
Although Tetra Pak recycling is fairly easy and available, some still argue that they are not the way to go in achieving environmental sustainability. According to Lindsay Miles’s Treading My Own Path blog, they are not green at all.
In our past blog on judging what materials can be recycled, we stated that although recycling cardboard materials is relatively easy, what makes it complicated is the other materials involved in the process. In this case, as I have already stated, Tetra Pak cartons are composed of paperboard, plastic, and sometimes even aluminium. What makes it difficult to recycle is the fact that it is made up of multiple materials adhered together.
Additionally, even though Tetra Pak cartons are indeed recyclable, it is not in a way that is circular, but rather linear. Are you finding it hard to understand? Let me explain it to you.
Paperboard
In Tetra Pak recycling, we usually seek the paperboard for its many uses. They informed us that 41 per cent of their cartons are FSC-certified wood worldwide. But even though that is good, we have to take into account that old cartons do not revert back to new Tetra Pak cartons once recycled. Recyclers usually turn them into office papers, instead.
Now, what does that mean? Well, it simply means that Tetra Pak will create more and more cartons from raw materials instead of recycled ones.
“Why not create them from recycled Tetra Paks?” They would not, because of two reasons:
- To avoid contamination;
- Low-quality paperboard simply won’t cut it
Plastic And Aluminium
Tetra Pak recycling also involves extracting two more materials: polyethylene and aluminium. We cannot separate them, so they combined as what we call a polymer. Treading My Own Path completely hit the nail on the coffin with this following statement:
“The fact that it gets reused and isn’t sent to landfill is great, except it doesn’t serve to make Tetra Paks a “green” solution. These cartons use fresh plastic and aluminium to make their cartons, and the waste products become something else entirely. Thus it is a linear system, not a cycle – and anything that is linear cannot be sustainable long-term.”
Tetra Pak Recycling: Conclusion
I hope this answered all your questions on Tetra Pak recycling. While it is indeed very much recyclable, some might argue that it is not “green” at all. But for many, it is still the best packaging for food and beverages.
Waster’s Cardboard Recycling Services
At Waster, we provide low-cost industrial waste bins and recycling services to small and medium Australian businesses – one of the easiest and most effective methods to recycle and cut your costs is to organise a cardboard recycling service. It is a very common service and is generally the cheapest form of waste/recycling bin collections as the cardboard has real value for recycling.
Why Pick Waster?
Waster firstly offers enables businesses in Australia access to the cheapest bin collection, removal, and disposal prices there is in the Australian garbage market. A statement from our very own states that it “requires no lock-in contracts, no unjustified rate increases and no hidden costs“ and operates in all metro regions throughout Australia, including Melbourne.
The bins we deliver to businesses include cardboard and paper recycling, commingled recycling, confidential paper destruction, general waste, grease trap liquid service, medical service, organic waste service, sanitary bin service, and Terracycle Recycling boxes.
Take note that there is no hidden charge in our services. Additionally, we even offer discounts if you purchase multiple bins! If you ever encounter a problem with our service, just contact our friendly customer service team.
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Hi Waster, I’m keen to understand how you have verified the information about Tetra Pak recyclability in Australia? As someone who works in the local industry I know from industry sources that there isn’t a single processing or recycling facility in Australia that can genuinly recycle liquid paper board. Recycling collectors across the country including big companies such as Cleanaway have stopped accetping it in the kerbside recycling bin because there simply isn’t the manufacturing infrastructure capacbilty of product end market for the material. It may be that some of the material is still being sent oversees for recycling but the reality is, alot of the product is probably being landfilled or stockpiled onshore. I would like to understand what information sources you’ve used in developing this information?
Hi Sophie,
Thanks for your email regarding Tetrapak.
When the blog was written – we utilised the info from PlanetArk as per – https://planetark.org/newsroom/archive/2569
Since the restrictions on exporting to China – this appears to be less common – but PlanetArk have not updated the info.
According to Tetrapak themselves – https://www.tetrapak.com/en-au/sustainability/planet/carton-recycling-australia-new-zealand
They are moving to building or setting up a recycling solution in Australia – as exports for recycling have decreased.
They highlight that Tetrapak containers are still recycled through container deposit schemes. This can be seen here on the NSW website: https://returnandearn.org.au/how-it-works/containers/
Thanks for your email – this is a moving space of course – and we will update the blog to reflect the latest info.
Thanks again,
Aodhan