Tetra Pak, the world-leading Swedish-Swiss processing and packaging solutions company, celebrates this year the 40-year anniversary of operations in Thailand. Since 1981 Tetra Pak has been supporting the development of the dairy industry in Thailand, as well as extending its scope to other food & beverage sectors with hundreds of customers in both processing and packaging solutions segments. The anniversary is marked with the local launch of the ‘Go Nature. Go Carton.’ campaign which highlights the need to find a better packaging solution for the planet.
Tetra Pak has ambitious plans for the future — to develop the world’s most sustainable food package by maximizing the use of paper-based content while reducing the use of aluminum and plastic. To demonstrate commitment to this goal, the company started a campaign called ‘Go Nature. Go Carton.’ It is aimed at developing the package which will be made solely from responsibly sourced renewable or recycled materials. It will also be fully recyclable and carbon-neutral, allowing ambient distribution and meeting food safety requirements.
These global plans are aligned with the company’s long-term local commitment to environmental initiatives in Thailand. Tetra Pak cartons are made of about 70% paperboard, which is a plant-based renewable material. As early as 2010 Tetra Pak introduced in Thailand the first carton package with the FSC™ (Forest Stewardship Council™) certification. This label guarantees that the paperboard that the company uses comes from sustainably managed renewable forests. By now Tetra Pak Thailand has already delivered over 26 billion carton packages with this label. In 2021 Tetra Pak Thailand expects to deliver over 6 billion packages with 100% of the paperboard coming from FSC certified forests and other controlled sources.
Tetra Pak Thailand has been actively engaged in sustainable management by encouraging collaboration among public and private organizations to contribute to a better environment. In 2020 the company achieved a major 10-year milestone with The Green Roof project for Friends in Need (of “PA”) Volunteers Foundation which collects used cartons to be turned into roofing sheets for victims of natural disasters. Tetra Pak also worked for almost five years with Thai local governments and organizations to implement Beverage Carton Recycling Project (BECARE) which managed to collect used beverage cartons to produce sheets of recycled Braille paper for donation to 13 Schools for Blind in Thailand. Finally, together with partners from the industry and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the company engaged with more than 400 schools through the School Milk Carton Recycling project to promote the sorting and collection of used beverage cartons from the school milk programme for further recycling.
