Tetra Pak plays down need for UK carton reprocessing

Tetra Pak recycling operations manager Fay Dashper said the firm was considering a number of options in the UK but its trials showed none was currently viable. She said there had been a change of view within the company towards reprocessing overseas.

“We’re completely happy with shipping cartons to Sweden to a dedicated reprocessing facility. Initially, we were keen on reprocessing in the UK in response to public demand. But life-cycle analyses have shown it’s not detrimental to the environment to ship waste overseas,” she said.

Dashper admitted that the move towards kerbside collections meant the firm had less control over waste than it does with bring banks. Some 20% of local authorities are predicted to have some form of kerbside collection of cartons by the end of the year.

“To get from 2% to 20% of councils in five years is a real shift change for us and local authorities,” she said.

Dashper was speaking to Packaging News after Wiltshire council revealed it had recycled more than 23 tonnes, or 1.1 million cartons, in the first year of a bring-bank scheme at the council’s household recycling centres.

Toby Sturgis, Wiltshire cabinet member for waste and the environment, said: “I am delighted the offer to take Tetra Pak cartons has proved popular and diverted a significant amount of waste that would otherwise be buried in the ground.”

Nonetheless, he admitted there was still work to do to collect the 23 million cartons Wiltshire is estimated to use in a year.

Investment in carton collections schemes, both bring bank and kerbside, led lsat year to cartons being classified as ‘widely recycled’ under the BRC’s recycling logo scheme.

Paint can manufacturers are hoping that similar schemes to raise awareness will help improve the number of metal cans that are recycled.

LOCAL AUTHORITY KERBSIDE CARTON COLLECTIONS

August 2009 16%
2008 12%
2007 7%
2006 3%
2005 2%

Source: Tetra Pak

Popular Articles