Food and packaging companies need to work to improve sustainability across all parts of the supply chain and can not assume natural resources, like paper, will always be available, says Tetra Pak director at Green Week conference

Jennifer Nguyen

LOS ANGELES , June 9, 2014 (Industry Intelligence Inc.) – Tetra Pak presented about the importance of improving sustainability throughout all parts of the supply chain at Greeb Week, an annual conference on European environment policy that took place in Brussels on June 3-5, Food Production Daily reported June 6.

The themes of the event were circular economy, resource efficiency and waste.

Mario Abreu, Tetra Pak’s global director of environmental performance, spoke about sustainable sourcing. He said that resource efficiency involves all parts of the packaging life cycle, from the materials used as well as renewability, to energy consumption, according to Food Production Daily.

“If we focus on the packaging business, what we want to do is minimize the amount of resources, make sure the resources are responsibly produced, coming from the right place, and deliver what packaging is for--protecting and keeping food safe,” said Abreu.

He added that businesses must take responsibility for sustainability when it comes to their supply chains, noting that one should never assume that there’ll always be certain resources available, like paper, for example. Instead, a company should understand and influence their supply chains, and see what is in place to mitigate risk, according to Food Production Daily.

“What really matters is we [Tetra Pak] have decided to look across the value chain,” said Abreu. “That means areas we don’t control ourselves, but can influence.”

As a result, Tetra Pak is looking to use 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paperboard. This percentage has increased from 38% back in 2012 to 41% in 2013, according to Food Production Daily.

The company is currently working on making forest certification available and engaging SMEs that are smallholders in the certification process. If this ends up successful, more certified wood products would be available for Tetra Pak’s suppliers to buy and exchange with the company, according to Abreu.

The primary source of this article is Food Production Daily, Montpellier, France, on June 6, 2014. Click here to read the primary source's full version of the article.

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