How buying products with eco-friendly packaging helps address climate change
Now more than ever, the world is experiencing great pressure to address the future effects of climate change. According the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SGD), global warming is expected to impact the availability of basic necessities like freshwater, food security, and energy.
This is why businesses worldwide are making efforts to implement sustainable business practices, just like how Tetra Pak, the world's leading food processing and packaging solutions company, is continuously developing eco-friendly and sustainable packaging, and also helps in the recycling process and production of innovative products from Used Beverage Cartons or UBCs.
Tetra Pak's motto and promise is “Protect what's good.” And according to John Jose, Marketing Director of Tetra Pak Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia, protecting what's good means protecting what's good for the consumers' food and drinks, what's good for the environment, and what is good for the consumers themselves.
Protecting Food
Aseptic technology is Tetra Pak's packaging innovation, which extends product shelf life. All of their aseptic carton packages are made of renewable materials, recyclable paperboard, and requires no refrigeration when distributed and stored. Less refrigeration means less carbon emission. Thus, their aseptic carton packages are certified eco-friendly.
Tetra Pak sterilizes the aseptic carton packages before filling them with UHT (Ultra High Temperature) treated food, resulting in a product which is shelf stable for up to 12 months. This process ensures that both food and packaging materials are free of harmful bacteria when food is packaged.
Protecting People
Part of Tetra Pak's responsibility is to look after the welfare of the people involved in their business, whether they be employees, business partners, or consumers. Thus, they have consistently extended support to the communities where they operate.
For almost two decades now Tetra Pak has been doing an annual interschool recycling program and competition that they call Care and Share, which is participated in by more than 200 public and private schools. It aims to create more awareness about recycling among Filipino youth and to also encourage them to actively participate in efforts to save the environment.
They also have an Eco Caravan where they go to different schools to conduct environmental talks among students.
Protect Futures
Tetra Pak is implementing a three-step strategy in achieving their goal of protecting the future of the planet and their customers.
The first step is to cap carbon emission. Tetra Pak sees to it that they are up to speed in terms of technological innovations and keep their carbon emissions to a minimum. Aside from developing packaging that protect food but don't require refrigeration, another way that Tetra Pak lessens carbon emission is by having solar powered factories.
The second step is deploying renewable source. Around 75% of the raw materials that Tetra Pak use are paper that were sourced from responsibly managed forests. They currently have a non-aseptic product that's made from sugar cane -- which is a fully renewable source -- and it is used for chilled products. Tetra Pak is also trying to develop an aseptic packaging that's made from a fully renewable source.
The third step in protecting futures is increasing recycling. Tetra Pak has initiated several efforts to raise awareness on recycling and to encourage the public to actively participate in it. One of which is by partnering with Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in launching Hope in a Box, the first-ever carton-packaged water in the Philippines, and simultaneously setting up drop off points for used beverage cartons (UBCs) in select Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf stores.
They also held a Food Safety and Beverage Carton Recycling Forum for business owners of hotels and restaurants in Boracay last year, to explain the importance of recycling UBCs and how their businesses can take part in saving the environment.
The challenge
Mr. John Jose admitted that the biggest challenge of recycling in the Philippines is collection, since the cost of shipping is costly. And according to him, this is why collaborating with stakeholders, the government, and brand owners is important.
How to overcome it
Tetra Pak believes that the solutions to the collection problem in the Philippines are the following:
- Create awareness in consumers
- Having a collection and sorting infrastructure
- Having infrastructure for recycling
- Creating demand for recycled products
Tetra Pak is currently working closely with Rural Industrial Corporation (RIC), to look for partner recyclers to help improve carton recycling capabilities and infrastructure in the Philippines.
And Mr. Jose even showed some of the sample products that they've produced from used beverage cartons.
Some of the products that can be created from recycled beverage cartons are roof tiles and chipboards. Chipboards can be used as an alternative to plywood and can even be turned into a photo frame. They have also produced a notebook from recycled used beverage cartons.
Tetra Pak is also planning to convert polyethylene aluminum or poly-alum into construction material by the third quarter of this year.
Where they are in their mission
Mr. John Jose revealed that Tetra Pak was able to reduce carbon emission by 15% despite having increased their production as the business grew. He also adds that he sees the same trajectory as Malaysia in terms of progress in their efforts to achieve a low-carbon circular economy.
What you can do to help
You may not be able to organize a big recycling campaign on your own, but a little effort goes a long way. By buying products with eco-friendly packaging and taking the time and effort to recycle them, you are already doing your part in saving the environment.
Mr. John Jose emphasized this by saying, “By choosing a product packaged in a Tetra Pak carton, stamped with a “Protect What's Good” logo, you are already making a conscious decision and positive contribution to a sustainable environment because Tetra Pak protects the future by protecting its people, and the environment. So, look for the Tetra Pak logo. Why? Because not all cartons are created equal.”
So, next time you head out to the grocery store to buy drinking water, think several steps ahead and imagine whether the product you'll purchase will go to a landfill after you consume it, or to a recycling facility where they can be transformed into another useful thing.
