New beverage carton recycling scheme a first for the Highlands
The Highland Council, in conjunction with Tetra Pak Ltd and the carton industry body ACE UK (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment), has launched a new beverage carton recycling scheme at its Recycling Centres in Aviemore, Dingwall, Fort William, Nairn and Thurso to give residents the opportunity to recycle even more of their household rubbish.
Every year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce approximately 60,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk and juices, this equates to around 2.3kg of cartons per household* which could be recycled instead of being thrown in the rubbish bin.
Once collected they are taken away to be baled and then transported to a recycling mill. They can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.
Chairman of the Council’s TEC Services Committee, Councillor John Laing said: “Highland households have always responded well to the different recycling schemes we’ve implemented, but we’ve still got some tough targets to meet. We’re delighted that Tetra Pak and the carton industry is supporting us to help increase the number of cartons recycled in the Highlands.”
Richard Hands, Environment Manager at Tetra Pak Ltd and Chairman of ACE UK, added: “Whilst cartons have been successfully recycled in large volumes for many years throughout Europe, the UK has a long way to go. It’s therefore fantastic news that The Highland Council is taking a lead by adding cartons to the list of materials collected for recycling and we very much hope that the initiative is successful. We and our industry partners are committed to increasing the level of carton recycling in the UK with the aim of reaching a national network of carton collection by the end of 2008. Our work with The Highland Council takes us and households in the area one step closer to achieving that.”
Since April last year, the UK carton industry has made £1.5million available to help local authorities interested in starting up carton collection schemes in their area. There are already over 280 district areas collecting cartons, which will result in a national network of coverage during the next 18 months. The carton industry continues to work with new paper mills to trial carton recycling to ensure the industry can cater for this increase in carton recycling, as more areas come on board.
For more information on recycling call 01349 868439 . For more information on beverage carton recycling, visit www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk.
Please remember: wash and squash your carton before recycling and only put paper-based liquid food and drinks cartons in the recycling bins, unless otherwise specified on the bin. No plastic, card, cans, glass, plastic bags or foil.
-Ends-
For Further Information
The Highland Council
Waste Management Unit, 01349 868439
Tetra Pak
Nicola Conron/Michael Osborne, Fishburn Hedges, 020 7839 4321
Notes for Editors
* we estimate that 54 cartons are used per person per annum in the uk, representing over 200 cartons a year for a typical family of four.
** Aviemore Recycling Centre, Granish Landfill Site, Granish PH22 1QD
Carton Recycling Process
Beverage cartons consist of up to three main materials:
• Paperboard (typically 70-90%)
• Low-density polyethylene (typically 10-25%)
• Aluminium foil (about 5%, only in long life or aseptic packages)
The carton recycling process is essentially quite simple. Baled cartons are dropped into a pulper, similar to a giant domestic food mixer, filled with water and pulped for around 20 minutes. This delaminates the packaging, breaking down the package to produce a grey-brown slurry. The aluminium foil and polyethylene are separated from the fibre, which is recovered to make new paper products.
Wood fibres become shorter and lose some strength every time they are recycled, and can only be recycled about five times. This means that there always has to be an input of virgin material into the papermaking process to maintain quality.
Because of cartons’ long, high-strength fibres, they reduce the need to buy virgin pulp. In the UK, the recovered fibre is used to manufacture new high-strength products such as paper carrier bags and envelopes.
The non-fibre remainder, mainly polyethylene and a smaller amount of aluminium, have been used in other countries in a number of applications including garden furniture, playground design, roofing materials and for energy recovery in municipal incinerators and cement kilns.
Tetra Pak and its partners are also currently developing plasma technology which enables the total separation of the polyethylene and aluminium. This permits the return of all three components of the carton to the productive chain as raw material.
For further information see www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk
About ACE UK
ACE UK – the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment UK – represents the leading beverage carton packaging manufacturers for the UK market in environmental policy and activity developments.
It consists of representatives from three carton manufacturers – Tetra Pak, SIG Combibloc and Elopak – and their mission is:
• To support environmental policies, activities and legislation in the field of packaging, waste, recycling and recovery consistent with the requirements of the UK market;
• To contribute to UK environmental policy, activities and legislation related to beverage carton packaging, in particular the promotion of renewable resources;
• To communicate the beverage carton’s environmental credentials to UK stakeholders.
About Tetra Pak Ltd
Tetra Pak works for and with our customers to provide preferred processing and packaging solutions for food. We apply our commitment to innovation, our understanding of consumer needs and our relationships with suppliers to deliver these solutions, wherever and whenever food is consumed. Tetra Pak is committed to making food safe and available, everywhere.
Operating in more than 165 markets with 21,100 employees, Tetra Pak believes in responsible industry leadership, creating profitable growth in harmony with environmental sustainability and good corporate citizenship.