Tetra Pak expands School Recycling to 800 primary schools and kindergartens in Hanoi

Tetra Pak and partners kicked off the School Recycling programme involving 800 primary schools and kindergartens in 16 districts of Hanoi

On December 14, food processing and packaging solution provider Tetra Pak kicked off its School Recycling programme involving 800 primary schools and kindergartens in 16 districts of Hanoi, raising the total number of participating schools in 2019 to 1,400 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The company also aims to expand this initiative to Danang and Binh Duong in 2020.

School Recycling is the first-ever large-scale programme to segregate, collect, and recycle used cartons in Hanoi under partnership with Hanoi’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Hanoi’s Department of Education and Training, as well as Tetra Pak’s partners, including Dong Tien Paper Factory, Lagom, NHC, and Vinamilk.

Participating the programme, schoolchildren are instructed about the simple steps of unfolding used cartons, flattening and placing them into dustbins for collection. Used carton packages are then collected periodically every two weeks by Lagom and transported to Dong Tien Paper factory to become materials for the production of such useful products as notebooks and bio-roof panels.

Carton recycling process

The kick-off ceremony goes with a display of cartons sustainable journey depicting its life cycle from sourcing materials, production to being recycled into useful products as well as the activity to exchange 100 used cartons for one small tree and a series of exciting events for the youth during the two days of December 14-15. These activities attracted thousands of attendants, widely communicating the programme's message of segregating, collecting, and recycling used cartons.

The sustainable journey of Tetra Pak’s cartons

Sustainability is among the core priorities across Tetra Pak’s value chain. From sourcing materials, the company collaborates with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to ensure that all paperboard for cartons comes from renewable forests that are managed responsibly. In Vietnam, nearly 100 per cent of Tetra Pak’s cartons are made from FSC-certified paper.

The company’s carton packaging material production hub inaugurated in July 2019 in Binh Duong is amongst Vietnam’s first factories to apply the latest, most-demanding environmental standards set by the globally-recognised LEED certification which enables up to 36 per cent reduction in energy, over 21 million litres of water reused a year, and cutting 4,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The exhibition on the sustainable journey of carton depicts its life cycle from sourcing materials, production to being recycled into useful products

Tetra Pak holds a strong vision to deliver a package made entirely from plant-based packaging materials by 2022 and that no cartons to end up as litter or in a landfill.

With a view to realising this vision, in additional to the School Recycling programme, Tetra Pak is actively engaged with community organisations to establish and expand the chain of nearly 30 public drop-off stations so that consumers can bring their used cartons for collection and recycling.

Collaborating with LOTTE Mart and NHC, Tetra Pak has recently added four Carton Houses at LOTTE Marts in Nam Saigon, Phu Tho, Tan Binh, and Go Vap as four public drop-off stations for consumers to bring their used cartons for collection and recycling. Tetra Pak is on track to co-operate with Lotte Mart and other big names in the retail sector to further expand its drop-off station network in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Under its driving ambition to recycle all the cartons it put in the market by 2030, the company aligned with eght other leading food and beverage and packaging businesses to establish Packaging Recycling Organization Vietnam (PRO Vietnam) in June 2019.

Used beverage cartons can be recycled into notebooks and bio-roof panels

As recognition for Tetra Pak’s remarkable efforts, the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham) and the Vietnam Business Council for Sustainable Development (VCCI) under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry honoured Tetra Pak as Vietnam’s sustainability pioneer in 2019.