Tetra Pak is claiming a carton packaging industry “first”, with the announcement of its plans to sign an agreement with Braskem in Brazil for the supply of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) made from sugar cane to Tetra Pak’s packaging material factories in Brazil.
The renewable bio-based plastic materials will be used in all Tetra Pak packages produced in Brazil, according to the company.
Described as a “breakthrough initiative”, the move is to be limited in scope to Brazil initially, but only for the trial period scheduled to start during the first quarter of 2014.
Tetra Pak’s planned move to bio-based LDPE means that 100% of Tetra Pak packages produced in Brazil, said to be about 13 billion, will consist of “up to 82% packaging material from renewable sources”.
“The new agreement to be signed with Braskem demonstrates our commitment to bring environmental innovations to our customers, and is a further step in our journey to develop fully renewable packages,” says Tetra Pak president and chief executive Dennis Jönsson.
Braskem will use ethanol derived from sugar cane to produce ethylene, which will then be converted into LDPE.
“The LDPE made from renewable sugar cane has the same technical properties as LDPE made from fossil sources, and the environmental benefits of being from a renewable source,” the company says.
Known under the trademark ‘I’m green’, Braskem says its biopolymers are: “As inert, resistant and recyclable as the polyethylene made from fossil sources, but contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during the sugar cane growth process.”
