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

Tetra Pak, in collaboration with its partners, kicks off School Recycling program to involve 800 primary schools and kindergartens in 16 districts of Hanoi

The Company also aims to expand this initiative to Da Nang and Binh Duong in 2020.

School Recycling is the first-ever, large-scale program 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 program, schoolchildren are instructed the simple steps of unfolding four corners of used cartons, flattening and placing them into dustbins for collection. The used carton packages are then collected periodically every two weeks by Lagom and transported to Dong Tien Paper factory to be materials for the production of such useful products as notebooks, bio-roof panels, etc.

Carton recycling process

Program’s ultimate goal goes beyond segregating and collecting used cartons at primary schools but to instill the good habit of carton recycling at household level, thereby giving a second life to used cartons.

The kick-off ceremony goes with a display of carton 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 two days of 14-15th December. These activities attract thousands of attendants, widely communicating program message of segregating, collecting and recycling used cartons.

Sustainability is amongst core priorities across Tetra Pak’s value chain. From sourcing materials, the company collaborates with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to ensure that all paperboard for cartons comes from renewable forests that are managed responsibly, In Vietnam, nearly 100% 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 of energy, over 21 million litres of water reused a year and lessening 4,000 tons of CO2 emission.

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 landfill.

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