Tetra Pak, provider of food processing and packaging solutions, today announced the launch of the industry’s first carton made entirely from plant-based, renewable packaging materials.
The new Tetra Rex® carton will be the first in the market to have bio-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films and bio-based high-density polyethylene (HDPE) caps, both derived from sugar cane, in addition to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC ™) certified paperboard.
Developed in partnership with Braskem, one of the world’s leading biopolymers producers, the new Tetra Rex package will be commercially available in early 2015. Tetra Pak customers using the standard 1 liter Tetra Rex with TwistCap OSO 34 can easily transfer to the new version without the need for any additional investment or modification to their existing filling machines.
Together with its suppliers, customers and other stakeholders, Tetra Pak is leading the pack towards 100 percent renewable packaging. The company says that increasing the renewable content of its packages is both good for the environment and offers customers a competitive advantage in the overall environmental profile of their products. In 2013, Tetra Pak delivered 1.1 billion packages to customers worldwide featuring bio-based caps (made from plastic derived from sugarcane), nearly doubling the number sold in 2012, according to the company's recent sustainability report. On average, Tetra Pak's cartons were already made of 70 percent renewable resources, and bio-based caps increase the renewable content of those packages by approximately 4 percent.
In July, Tetra Pak US and Canada launched "Moving To The Front," a campaign centered on a white paper that highlights issues of resource scarcity and encourages suppliers, manufacturers, brand owners, NGOs and others to expand focus from the mid and end of the packaging life cycle to the beginning. The campaign highlights the need for industry practices that focus on the importance of sustainable material sourcing and renewable resources in protecting our world's limited natural resources and how these practices can create long-term shared value for businesses and society.