New Tetra Pak campaign pursues sustainability solutions in region

The company’s goals for a sustainable future include 100 percent renewable packages by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. For its work so far, Tetra Pak has recently been recognized as one of the top 50 Sustainability and Climate Leaders.

By 2050, the world’s population is predicted to reach 9.1 billion, which will require an increase of 70 percent in food availability. Packaging helps keep food safe, nutritious, and available. And, with 33 percent of food lost or wasted each year, high-performance packaging plays a critical role in today’s global food delivery system.

Tetra Pak cooperates with many key players across the value chain, alongside more than 170 recycling operations around the world, to advance the entire recycling value chain. By strengthening global carton recycling infrastructure, the company can ensure cartons are transformed into new raw material and products, keeping valuable resources in use to help build a circular economy.

“High-performance food packaging plays a critical role in feeding the world, but it must do so sustainably, so that food availability does not come at the cost of the planet. This lies behind Tetra Pak’s commitment to making food safe and available, everywhere, in a way that protects what’s good — protecting food, protecting people as well as protecting the planet,” said Niels Hougaard, managing director of Tetra Pak Arabia Area and cluster leader sales management for Greater Middle East and Africa.

He added: “We are seeking opportunities across the entire recycling value chain to improve how cartons get recycled. We see it as our fundamental obligation to support collection, sorting and recycling of packaging. That’s why, in synergy with food manufacturers, municipalities, recyclers and other stakeholders across the industry, we are on a journey to develop and scale the recycling of paper-based cartons, helping to make them the world’s most sustainable food package.”

In Saudi Arabia, Tetra Pak has formed the first-of-its-kind recycling partnership in the region with Obeikan Paper Industries (OPI) to recycle paper of collected post-consumer cartons. OPI has its own company-wide waste management and is ready to start working on programs that increase collection and contribute to a sustainable recycling value chain. In addition to that, a new recycling partnership with Saudi Top Plastics Factory (STP), the leading plastic recycling plant in the region, was formed to recycle the remaining plastic and aluminum compound residue resulting from cartons recycling at OPI.