Start-of-life packaging

While the end of a package’s life is important, Tetra Pak believes there is a big opportunity to expand thinking to include the entire product lifecycle. Its campaign, Moving To The Front, addresses this by inviting suppliers, manufacturers, brand owners, NGOs and others to expand attention from the middle and end of the packaging life cycle to the beginning, considering the raw materials and quantity of materials used in the creation of a package.

These considerations  were included in the design of Tetra Pak’s bottled water packaging and its most recent Tetra Top carton bottle. The top and cap made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) derived from sugarcane. Combined with the FSC certified paperboard used in the main sleeve of the carton, this pushes its renewable content up from 53% to 82%.

Chris Gretchko, vice president of marketing for Tetra Pak U.S. and Canada, points out three benefits of boxed water. First, is sustainability. “Water is a natural resource and aligning the product with a sustainable package is resonating with people,” she says. “Our cartons are a great fit here because they’re made mainly from a renewable resource: paper sourced from well-managed forests where new trees are planted to replace harvested ones. Our solutions are designed with a 360-degree approach to reducing environmental impact, from our manufacturing process, which prioritizes water and energy conservation to our materials sourcing, which focuses on use of renewable materials, and on to recycling cartons at the end-of-life.”