Tetra Pak South Africa supports the circular economy by recycling cartons for new reel cores:
Tetra Pak South Africa supports the circular economy by recycling cartons for new reel cores
Tetra Pak cartons, manufactured as flat packs at the converting factory in Pinetown, are wound around reels that are now being manufactured from recycled packs collected from post-consumer waste.
These reels must conform with stringent hygiene and structural requirements, since they support several hundred kilograms of weight of packs used for the safe and healthy production and distribution of food and beverages.
“Recovering fibre from used beverage cartons supports our strategy of a low-carbon circular economy as well as the sustainability goals we continually strive to achieve ourselves and in collaboration with partners,” says Rodney Reynders, Cluster Leader of Sustainability for the Greater Middle East and Africa. “The reel cores are an important component in maintaining the health and safety integrity of the packs throughout the supply chain. That is why the role of Mpact in producing exceptionally high grade recycled paper fibre is so crucial, as well as the role of Cutting Edge Packaging in manufacturing the reel cores using that product.”
The Tetra Pak converting factory in Pinetown uses thousands of reel cores every month, made from 100% recycled paper, at least 10% of which is fibre from post-consumer beverage cartons such as Tetra Pak.
The process begins when Mpact Recycling collects used food and beverage cartons nationally for recycling.
Mpact Recycling MD, John Hunt, says, “As the leading recycler in South Africa, we collect approximately 600 000 tonnes of recyclables per annum. The liquid packaging plant at the Springs mill has the ability to recycle approximately 25 000 tonnes per year of liquid packaging products and we are excited to be working with Tetra Pak in our joint efforts to unlock and increase collections of used beverage cartons.”
After collection, the recycling business bales the cartons which are then sent to the Mpact mill where, through a special hydro-pulping process, the paperboard is reduced to a pulp and separated from the polymer and aluminium (PolyAlu) layers. The pulp is then used to make new paper-based products, specifically core board paper, which becomes paper cores.
Howard Emmett, Mill Manager, for the Mpact Springs mill says “as a manufacturer of Carton Board and fibre-based core products in South Africa, the high-quality fibre recovered from liquid cartons adds strength to the finished products. We continue to increase our use of post-consumer beverage cartons in a variety of paper products as it becomes available. Beverage cartons are still a relatively new form of packaging being recycled in South Africa and not all consumers are aware they can be recycled.”
Cutting Edge Packaging appreciates the high-quality fibre board that the Mpact mill supplies, enabling it to manufacture reel cores to exacting standards. To further close the loop these cores also end up at many of the Mpact Recycling facilities countrywide and back into the recycling process.
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