Tetra Pak has collaborated with Spanish beverage producer García Carrión for the ‘first-ever’ use of its paper-based barrier technology for juice packaging, seeking to reduce reliance on fossil-based materials.
The two companies have launched the Tetra Brik Aseptic 200ml Slim Leaf carton under the Don Simón brand. According to Tetra Pak, this is the first juice portion pack globally to use the barrier technology and the first such package available in Spain.
Made with up to 80% paper, the new packaging combines the paper-based barrier with plant-based polymers used in the packaging material coatings, said to have 92% renewable content. Tetra Pak states that this reduces the carbon footprint by 43% compared with an aseptic package that uses aluminium foil layer and fossil-based polymers, verified by the Carbon Trust.
Along with other layers in the packaging, the paper-based barrier apparently protects against oxygen, light, moisture and bacteria, ensuring food safety and shelf life comparable to packages with an aluminium foil layer. Aseptic cartons with the new paper-based barrier can be collected, sorted, and recycled where recycling infrastructure is in place, at scale.
The barrier is expected to deliver downstream recycling infrastructure efficiency benefits, such as maximising the recovery of paper content from the recycling process of carton packages while ensuring high-quality fibre and non-fibre fractions. The new packaging material is currently being rolled out across multiple markets.
Back in April, Tetra Pak unveiled a paper-based cap for carton packages of Aneto’s vegetable broth – creating a pack that contains 73% paper by weight and, including the plant-based polymers in the coatings and opening neck, 87% renewable content. Tetra Pak aims to transition away from fossil-based plastics, simplifying the material structure and increasing paper-based content in its carton packages.
This summer saw SIG launch its first 1-litre aseptic carton packs made of SIG Terra alu-free and full barrier packaging material, utilized by ALDI for its Rio d’oro grape juice in parts of Germany. The new cartons are said to reduce the carbon footprint of conventional multi-serve cartons by 29%.
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