“Unlocking Sustainable Growth” with Tetra Pak South Africa

On the 18th of September, FSC® was invited to Certificate Holder Tetra Pak’s   “Unlocking  Sustainable Growth”  event for key clients, government and business partners. (FSC C014047) The event was held at the beautiful tranquil Shepstone Gardens in Johannesburg.

The intention of the event was to present Tetra Pak’s exciting vision for the circular economy for their liquid board packaging (LBP), and how the company and its partners can assist clients in achieving their sustainable objectives.

Tetra Pak and other partner organisations shared inspiring insights on the circular economy and other sustainability initiatives.  

Tetra Pak’s  South Africa Managing Director Klaus Plenge and later Sustainability Manager, Masale Manoko confirmed the business unit’s mission to sustainability and to investing in South Africa. Some of the highlights they shared:

• Tetra Pak is currently investing more the R500 million in its Durban  plant to increase efficiencies and capacity, which is due to be completed by March 2024. The upgrade will contribute to job creation, supply chain development, reduced lead times and extended customer reach.
• The upgrade will achieve environmental objectives through reducing carbon dioxide emissions, better energy and water utilization, by incorporating alternative, green sources of electricity in manufacturing processes.
• Joining extended producer responsibility organisation, Petco was driven by the need for greater collaboration to improve the collection  and recycling of Tetra Pak’s post-consumer packaging.
• Partnering with Gayatri Paper Mills (FSC C133947) and their recycling facilities to recycle liquid LPB packaging , with  38% coming from newly activated buyback centres facilitated by Tetra Pak and Petco.
• Over the last 3 years, Tetra Pak has invested R34 million in collection and recycling infrastructure, and this year will spend another R18 million.
• Over and above the recycling of  their LPB, Tetra Pak has been active in finding ways to recycle the polymer and aluminum C (PolyAl) components of its liquid packaging. To this end the company is investing R10 million in a PolyAL recycling plant in 2024.  This will further increase production of plastic look-a-like wood furniture and other products, which is sold country-wide.
• In 2024, a pallet made from 100% PolyAl will be launched, which will  encourage extended reuse and minimize the environmental impact of plastic packaging waste.

Klaus Plenge signing the sustainability pledge on a giant Tetra Pak Liquid Board Pack

A successful on the ground pilot school  project is the “Choose to Recycle”  Competition which is running with schools in the Port Elizabeth/Humansdorp areas. This is a collaboration with customer Woodlands Dairy, Petco and Gayatri Paper Mills.  To date this has produced 45 000  liquid cartons for recycling to date. The campaign will be expanded next year to include more schools in the Cape and Gauteng.

Another keynote speaker was Kgauta Mokoena, a director from the  Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, who stressed that key to government’s policy is the divert waste away from landfill, and collaboration with other stakeholders was vital to achieve this.

Lex Gutsche, Woodlands Diary CEO commended Tetra Pak commended Tetra Pak on its considerable efforts in reducing the carbon footprint of its packaging for a number of Woodlands’ products, and cited the example of Tetra Pak’s  innovation,  a sugarcane-based layer inside the packaging instead of using a fossil fuel-based plastic.  This resulted in a 15% reduction in Woodlands’  carbon footprint on its one litre milk pack.

Gerard Busse, Marketing  Manager from sustainable forest management certification body, the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) commended  Tetra Pak not only on its commitment as a leading Chain-of-Custody multi-site Certificate (COC) Holder internationally, but also its active participation as an Economic Member in FSC’s  governance structure.  He also mentioned  FSC’s commitment to enhancing its focus on circularity, particularly through its FSC Mix and  FSC Recycled labels, and mentioned that currently more then 45% of COC certifications globally currently have Recycled within their product scope.  

Gerard Busse from FSC signing the Tetra Pak Giant Carton to support the sustainability pledge

Furthermore,  Busse congratulated Tetra Pak, achieving  a milestone first of 140 billion FSC certified  packs labelled  worldwide in 2020.

On behalf of FSC, we thank Tetra Pak South Africa for including  FSC in celebrating this memorable event together with your clients, staff and other valuable partners. We also wish you well in striving to achieve your recycling rate of liquid board packaging to 40% by 2030, and look forward to partnering you in that journey.

Acknowledgements for content:

Tetra Pak South Africa

 Chanel de Bruyn, Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Onlin