Among the highlights of Tetra Pak’s initiatives in India, the company’s collection and recycling network today covers 26 states and union territories and 15 Indian Army contingents. This network is enabled with the support of more than 30 collection partners, and leveraged by 4 recyclers across India. 

Over the past 12 months, the company has expanded collection partners across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

In the past one year, the company also supported customers in reducing food waste, water consumption and carbon footprint through technological innovation and interventions.

Tetra Pak’s manufacturing site in Chakan (near Pune) was recertified as IGBC Platinum, meeting a range of parameters — sustainable site, water conservation, energy conservation, innovation, indoor environmental quality, material conservation and more. 

During the period, the company joined hands with Nestlé a+ to launch Cartons 2 Classroom — an initiative to increase awareness about recycling by recycling used cartons to create classroom furniture for schools for less-privileged children. 

It also launched the programme called Happy Wings in partnership with Eco Roots Foundation, an NGO working to conserve ecosystem, environment, and biodiversity. This programme aims to reach out to over 200 schools across the country, covering over 20,000 students to educate children about the importance of protecting biodiversity, while also teaching them how to make nests for birds using household waste like jute, coconut husk and recycled beverage cartons.

Tetra Pak tied up with micro-delivery startup Milkbasket to help consumers recycle used carton packages from their doorstep through the Milkbasket app. 

“Our ambition is to lead the sustainability transformation within our industry, and this is only possible through concrete actions across our value chain. We believe that it is imperative to leverage strong and system-wide partnerships, as collaboration is key to overcoming the challenges we face today. It is also critical to embed sustainability as a key business driver and decision-making criterion and promote a culture of sustainability in our business and industry. As you will see in our latest sustainability report, we are making strong efforts in these areas,” said Ashutosh Manohar, managing director, Tetra Pak South Asia.

In the global context, the impact of the pandemic and several global events have made a significant impact on global logistics and raw material prices. However, Tetra Pak has worked towards reducing the impact of unprecedented disruptions around the global supply chain while leading the sustainability transformation within the industry. It reduced operational GHG emissions by 36%, with 80% of energy coming from renewable sources, doubling the solar energy capacity to 5.55MW.

It sold 17.6-billion plant-based packages and 10.8-billion plant-based caps in the past year, enabling the saving of 96 kilo tonnes of CO2, compared to fossil-based plastic.

It also became the first carton packaging player in the food and beverage industry to launch a cap using attributed recycled polymers, in partnership with Elvir, a subsidiary of world leading milk processor Savencia Fromage & Dairy.