PORTUGAL – Tetra Pak, a multinational supplier of food packaging and processing solutions, has launched a new aseptic beverage carton that reportedly reduces the carbon footprint of aseptic cartons for milk by one third.
The lower carbon footprint of the new Tetra Brik Aseptic 200 Slim Leaf carton can be directly attributed to its higher recyclable content of 90%, a large portion (80 percent) of which is comprised of paperboard.
The packaging, developed in partnership with Portuguese food products company Lactogal also features a paper-based barrier and has been certified as Carbon Neutral by the Carbon Trust.
With the new packaging, Tetra Pak says milk processors can now have an environmentally friendly package that can be distributed under ambient conditions
Its launch follows a successful commercial consumer testing in 2022 which was part of a large-scale technology validation, involving around 25 million packages and currently ongoing in Portugal.
Greenhouse gas emissions, food waste and plastic littering are cited as the top three environmental sustainability concerns facing food and beverage (F&B) businesses today, and this is expected to remain the case over the next five years.
Packaging solutions like these, that expand the amount of paper and lower the carbon footprint, while ensuring food safety, can help the industry overcome these challenges.
Tetra Brik Aseptic 200 Slim Leaf carton is however not the first innovation aimed at lowering the carbon footprint of aseptic beverage cartons that the Switzerland-based packaging solutions supplier has launched.
In 2015, Tetra Pak was the first in the industry to introduce a package made fully from plant-based renewable materials – paperboard and sugarcane-based plastic.
The Tetra Rex Plant-based package, suitable for cold chain distribution, is fully renewable, and the company has delivered approximately 6.5 billion of these packages to customers around the world to date.
The latest innovation brings Tetra Pak one step closer to its ambition of a beverage carton made solely from responsibly sourced renewable or recycled materials, fully recyclable and carbon neutral.
Ola Elmqvist, Executive Vice President Packaging Solutions, Tetra Pak adds: “The development represents a critical marker in our longstanding work to design beverage cartons for recycling – something that is continuing to set the pace for the paperisation of packaging.
By joining forces with Lactogal, we’re now demonstrating that it’s possible to progress the sustainability of aseptic beverage cartons while securing food safety and enhancing food access.”
The company is aiming for industrial scale production of the solution by 2025.
