Arla adopts 100% renewable Tetra Pak carton for Swedish organic milk brand
From today, Swedish consumers can buy Arla Sweden's Eko brand organic milk in one litre Tetra Rex Bio-based gable top cartons, Switzerland-based Tetra Pak announced earlier.
The Tetra Rex Bio-based carton combines Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paperboard and Braskem bio-based plastic derived from sugar cane. Each carton is topped with a with a TwistCap OSO 34, an opening made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) derived from sugar cane.
Arla Sweden announced in April 2014 it was adding the TwistCap OSO 34 to all cartons of organic milk.
In a statement, Arla Sweden branded its decision to adopt the Tetra Rex Bio-based carton "the next step in maximizing the proportion of renewable raw materials in our packaging."
"Arla Foods has a target to reduce the climate impact of our packaging and we want to increase the share of renewable and recyclable packaging material," Anna-Karin Modin-Edman, sustainability manager, Arla Sweden, told DairyReporter.com.
"The bio-based carton delivers on all these goals."
"Eko is Arla Foods' Swedish organic product line and offers many added values from a sustainability perspective. Improving the packaging even further from a sustainability perspective was a logical choice," she said.
Looking ahead, Modin-Edman said use of the Tetra Rex Bio-based carton could be expanded.
"We will evaluate the market response and decide on further expansions based on that," she said.
"Positive" Finnish feedback
Arla Sweden is only the second company worldwide to market product in the Tetra Rex Bio-based gable top carton.
Finnish dairy Valio trialled the one litre with its Eila brand lactose-free, semi-skimmed milk between January and March 2015.
Earlier this month, following "positive response" from Valio and Finnish consumers, Tetra Pak announced it would roll out the 100% renewable Tetra Rex Bio-based carton globally
Christina Chester, product director for gable top cartons, Tetra Pak, told DairyReporter.com the carton would be deployed “in the not too distant future” to European customers.
Asked if the Finnish feedback contributed to Arla Sweden's decision, Modin-Edman said: "Fulfilment of our environmental strategy goals and strengthening our position as a market leader in organic milk products has been driving the decision to adopt the new carton."
"However, it is of course great to learn from the experience from other dairy companies as well."
