Tetra Pak and its composition

Shelf stable milk and juice is a genius idea — buy in bulk to always have at the ready, less food waste, and it is fresher than canned goods. But with all the benefits of shelf stable packaging like Tetra Pak, they’re difficult to recycle due to their multi-layer construction. Curbside pickup often won’t take them and even some of the best recycling centers can’t take them. In April though, the Carton Council and the 4 leading carton manufacturers have banded together to improve the carton recycling infrastructure in the US. Europe has been recycling Tetra Pak for years, so it’s high time that we got on the bandwagon as well.

Tetra Pak cartons are the most common name for aseptic cartons, which are used for liquid food items so they can be stored for up to one year without refrigeration. Aseptic means “free from pathogenic micro-organisms, so this packaging process eliminates harmful elements from the food and packages them in a pre-sterilized container. This type of packaging also blocks light completely, in order to preserve vitamins A, B2, B6, B12, C and K, which are all photosensitive and would become damaged in the presence of light. 

Packaging Materials

Tetra Paks are are constructed from a 6 layers of materials.

1. Polyethylene - protects against outside moisture
2. Paper - for stability and strength
3. Polyethylene - adhesion layer
4. Aluminum foil - oxygen, flavor and light barrier
5. Polyethylene - adhesion layer
6. Polyethylene - seals in the liquid

The biggest layer is the paper layer, which makes up 75% of the packaging, otherwise 20% is polyethylene and 5% is aluminum. The paper part is what can be recycled relatively easily and is used to create other items like paper and tissue products.

Image source: Tetrapak

Image source: Tetrapak

content source: enn