Tetra Pak and Lactogal have officially launched an aseptic beverage carton with a paper-based barrier after successful commercial consumer testing in 2022. This large-scale technology validation project is currently underway in Portugal and involves around 25 million packages. The innovative package, made of approximately 80% paperboard, increases the renewable content to 90% and reduces its carbon footprint by one third (33%) while being certified as Carbon Neutral by the Carbon Trust™2.
The top three environmental sustainability concerns for food and beverage (F&B) businesses are greenhouse gas emissions, food waste, and plastic littering. It is expected that these concerns will continue to be a priority over the next five years3. Packaging solutions that increase the amount of paper and lower the carbon footprint, while ensuring food safety, are part of the industry’s efforts to overcome these challenges.
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 success of the Tetra Rex® Plant-based package, which is fully renewable and suitable for cold chain distribution, has seen approximately 6.5 billion packages delivered worldwide to date.
With the launch of the Tetra Brik® Aseptic 200 Slim Leaf carton with paper-based barrier, Tetra Pak and Lactogal have introduced a package that can be distributed under ambient conditions while achieving the 90% renewable content mark. This move brings Tetra Pak one step closer to its goal of a beverage carton made solely from responsibly sourced renewable or recycled materials, fully recyclable, and carbon neutral. The company aims to achieve industrial scale production of the solution by 2025.
José Capela, President of Lactogal, stated: “Our collaboration with Tetra Pak centers on a shared belief that a more sustainable future is possible. Innovating together is a big part of that. We are both focused on an ambitious sustainability transformation, and this new carton’s 33% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions4, together with its Carbon Neutral certification by the Carbon Trust™, is a significant achievement towards this goal.”
Ola Elmqvist, Executive Vice President Packaging Solutions, Tetra Pak added: “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 paperization 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.”
In 2022, Tetra Pak and industry partners adopted Design for Recyclability guidelines for beverage cartons, providing technical guidance for optimized recycling. The 4evergreen alliance also added beverage packaging design guidance to its fibre-based circularity toolset. 4evergreen, of which Tetra Pak is a founding member, aims to boost the contribution of fibre-based packaging in a circular and sustainable economy. Their updated Circularity by Design Guideline covers fibre-based composite packaging types and informs designers on their recycling compatibility.
