From:Packaging Europe News

Earlier this year Tetra Pak brought to market the industry's first beverage carton made entirely from plant based, renewable packaging materials. The new Tetra Rex® carton is the first in the market to have bio-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films and bio-based high-density polyethylene (HDPE) caps, both derived from sugar cane, in addition to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC ™) certified paperboard.



Developed in partnership with Braskem, the leading biopolymers producer, the new Tetra Rex package was unveiled in 2014 and hit shelves in early 2015. It is available in a range of sizes, from 250ml to 2000ml, for all chilled milk specifications. Tetra Rex Bio-based is manufactured solely from a combination of plastics derived from sugar cane and paperboard. Like the Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) certified paperboard, the plastics can be traced back to their origin, affording the package the highest category of bio-based certification from Vincotte, the internationally-recognised assessment body.

"Environment excellence is one of Tetra Pak's strategic priorities and a driver of our product development activities," said Charles Brand, VP marketing & product management at Tetra Pak. "Together with suppliers, customers and other stakeholders, we are leading the industry towards 100 per cent renewable packaging. We believe that increasing the renewable content of our packages is not only good for the environment, but also offers our customers a competitive advantage in the overall environmental profile of their products."

The bio-based plastics used by Tetra Pak are produced by Brazilian chemical company, Braskem, which sources all of its feedstock from sugar cane grown on degraded pastures.
"Tetra Rex Bio-based offers customers a fully renewable package made from materials that can be traced back to their plant-based source," remarked Mr Brand. "It's good for the environment, and it's excellent for communicating with consumers - the product they actually hold in their hands is derived entirely from plants. The pack that grows back."

Finnish dairy brand Valio became the first customer to introduce Tetra Rex Bio-based, for its Valio Eila® lactose free semi-skimmed milk drink, around the beginning of the year. The company plans to use the package for other products in its range and has also elected to use Tetra Pak's bio based closures for all its gable-top packages.

"After all of the hard work and significant investment that has gone into bringing this package to market, it is hugely rewarding to get such a positive response from both Valio and their consumers," commented Mr Brand.

Arla Food's Swedish Eko brand organic milk is another early adopter of the pack. Meanwhile, dairy companies in other parts of the world will soon be launching the Tetra Rex following the introduction to the European market. Proliferation is expected to be underpinned by the fact that customers using the standard one-litre Tetra Rex with TwistCap OSO 34 can easily transfer to the new version without the need for any additional investment or modification to their existing filling machines.