Building The World’s Most Sustainable Package

Product innovations, green technologies, recycling and increasing consumer awareness are some of the important steps being taken by food packaging and processing industry leaders like Tetra Pak towards environment sustainability. 

Rising consumption of packaged food and beverages, awareness and demand for quality products, and the need to enhance the shelf life of food as part of efforts to reduce waste are among varied reasons the food carton industry in India has been witnessing double digit growth over the last several years. During Covid, this was among industries that witnessed capacity addition by many existing players and green field investment by several companies. 

The Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) has estimated that packaged food consumption in India has increased 200% in the past decade, from 4.3 kgs to 8.6 kgs per person per annum. Valued at $33.22 billion in 2020, the India food and beverage packaging market is expected to reach $156.25 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 29.88% during the forecast period (2021-2026), according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). 

FNBNews.com in a report-states that consumers’ demand for food packages that are clean, safe, and look appealing, has seen large transformations in the material used for packaging even as environmental concerns have led to industries investing in innovations and adopting technologies that are helping to reduce the carbon footprint right from production to post consumption recycling.

One of the organizations at the helm of innovation in food & beverage industry is Tetra Pak – a world leading packaging and processing company that is a partner of choice for nearly all leading brands across the world. According to Tetra Pak, a carton package on an average is 70% plant-based or made from renewable materials which are responsibly-sourced and are FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified.  

“The preference is increasingly shifting towards use of paper-based packaging, not just in India but globally. This keeps companies like us on our toes to continue investing in developing technologies that maximise use of renewable materials, minimise impact on environment, and to leverage the local ecosystem as much as possible to reduce dependency on imports,” says Ashutosh Manohar, Managing Director – Tetra Pak South Asia.

As a major player in the industry, Tetra Pak is striving to create a fully renewable, fully recyclable and carbon-neutral package. Manohar is hopeful that “in 10 years, the package that you will have in your hand will have fully recycled fibre, no aluminium and a touch of polymer, which would also be derived from plant-based sources. This is the wide ambition that we have set for ourselves, and we have a roadmap for achieving it”.

While the packaging industry focuses on increasing the paper content in the package from 70% to around 80%-85% and even beyond, the challenge remains to ensure food safety right from the time it is manufactured, packaged, transported and reaches the consumers. Without compromising the quality of the packaging, the industry is looking to replace the polymer and aluminum with more sustainable barriers. The industry is also working on using recycled fiber from used packages in the new packages manufactured, making it a truly circular model. 

The plan to eliminate use of aluminum foil is not easy, explains Manohar, as not only is it needed to safely seal the package but it also helps to protect the food product from sunlight thus preventing spoilage. However, as aluminum foil is an exhaustible resource, Tetra Pak’s attempt is to replace aluminum foil with something that serves the same functions. In late May 2022, Tetra Pak has announced that it now testing a fibre-based barrier to replace aluminum for products transported in “ambient” conditions. The first pilot is being rolled out in Japan. In the case of polymer, the third constituent of the carton, Tetra Pak has already sold over 1 billion packages where fossil-fuel based polymer has been replaced by sugarcane based one. 

But sustainability is not limited just to raw materials. Leading companies are taking a lifecycle approach to the principle by focusing on the greenhouse gas emissions or the carbon footprint of their products during operations and post-sale..  

In 2010, Tetra Pak made a public commitment that by 2020 its growth will be decoupled with the greenhouse gas emissions of its operations by capping it at 2010 levels. “We have over-achieved our 2020 target as our 2020 value chain GHG emissions were 19% lower than our baseline in 2010. Saying this differently, this helped us save over 17 million tonnes of GHG emissions, demonstrating that decoupling climate impact and economic growth is possible,” shares Manohar adding Tetra Pak is now focusing more on helping the industry and customers reduce their carbon footprint.

Water conservation is another major area of focus. Over the last few years many brand owners have substantially reduced water consumption from 6-7 litres for every litre of still-drinks, juices, milk products, etc., packaged to around 0.5 litres of water per litre. Similarly on energy front, Tetra Pak is investing in building efficient processing equipment, filling equipment, distribution equipment, and end of line equipment to reduce energy consumption per package. This has helped many companies to sharply reduce their energy consumption to less than 50% of what it used to be 25 years ago.

On the recycling front, Tetra Pak started building a local network for collection partners, NGOs, recyclers over 18 years ago, though the plastic waste management rules came into force in India hardly four years ago. The company has partnered with four independent recyclers across India. This is supported by over 30 collection or waste management agencies who provide a steady stream of used cartons for recycling.

“As a country, we were a little bit slow to start on our sustainability goals. So, when the plastic waste management and solid waste management rules came into effect in 2018, the industry was taken by surprise. But the speed of response was heartening,” says Manohar. “Our experience of 18 years in India gave us a great starting point, and we were able to support the carton industry in accelerating their efforts as well,” he adds. 

In the last three or four years, various brand-owners have adopted one or more cities and towns where they have maximum sales, focusing on post consumption collection - the weakest point in India. “We work with NGOs & other collection agencies to segregate the packages at that point. After segregation, the discarded packages are sent to recycling facilities. According to a study by TERI currently around 50% of the discarded packages or cartons are being recycled in India.” 
 As the deadline for ban on use of plastic straws from July 1 approaches the industry has sought more time for total switchover to biodegradable material for the straws that come attached with cartons, highlighting the need to make a distinction between the straws which can be bought loose and the those which come attached to the primary package as they are polypropylene straws made of food grade materials, collected and recycled along with cartons. “While efforts are on to replace the plastic straws, it is a tough call as India needs 6 billion straws annually but the manufacturing capacity within the country is currently inadequate, and imports will significantly increase costs. More importantly, integrated straws are less than 0.1% of the plastic waste produced in the country, while being the most hygienic way for children and the elderly to consume Beverage from cartons,” says Dr. Praveen Aggarwal, CEO – Action Alliance for Recycling Beverage Cartons.