Tetra Pak refutes allegations of German special interest group claiming company is misleading with phrase 'I am 100% recyclable'; company says cartons are fully recyclable, commits to improve percentage of cartons recycled worldwide from 20% to 40%
Kendall Sinclair
STOCKHOLM
,
January 19, 2012
(press release)
–
Tetra Pak’s cartons are fully recyclable, which means that all parts of the package – the paper, the plastics and the alufoil – can be material recycled; that is, used as a feedstock in the creation of new materials.
Right now, around 20% of the total number of cartons we sell worldwide are recycled (which does not include being used as a fuel source). We believe this number is too low, and we are taking actions in all parts of the world to improve that performance, with a goal of ensuring that 40% of our packages are material recycled by 2020. One of the critical actions in achieving this target is to increase awareness among consumers about the recyclability of our packages, to facilitate the collection and recycling process.
Over the past couple of days, a number of publications have run reports based on a press release by the German special interest group, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH). The group claims that Tetra Pak is misleading consumers by using the phrase “I am 100% recyclable”, alongside an illustration of a carton package.
We strongly refute this allegation.
It is a great shame that DUH continues to misinterpret our statements, creating unnecessary controversy and bringing the very strong environmental profile of carton packaging into disrepute. Our intention all along has been focused solely on finding ways to motivate consumers into collecting beverage cartons for recycling, and on providing them with information regarding the environmental characteristics of carton packaging.
* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.