Used Tetra Pak cartons to be collected through VECA application on smartphones

With the application of this digital technology platform, cartons can be easily collected at households or businesses, in addition to the 63 public drop-off stations that Tetra Pak and its partners have established in Vietnam for years.

Ms. Ly Quynh Trang, Director of Sustainability, Tetra Pak Vietnam, said: “Our goal is to make cartons collectable everywhere, including at home, schools, bars or workplaces. If we can do that, we will be very close to forming a culture of sorting used cartons to preserve and protect the environment and natural resources. The application of digital technology in collection is the key to achieving this goal.”

In the first six months of the program, VECA will pilot on-site carton collection in 10 districts in Ho Chi Minh City

VECA is a mobile application for buying and selling scrap, available on both the iOS App Store and Google Play store, with about 20,000 users. The application operates in a similar way to ride-hailing technology, in which people wishing to sell scrap will use the application to provide information about the type and quantity of scrap they want to sell. The application will then search for local collectors interested in that type of scrap. VECA is highly appreciated for its transparency in collection activities when publicly listing common collection prices in that area, helping the seller choose when to sell scrap and update the price on a daily basis. In addition to scrap materials such as paper, glass bottles, plastic and metal, the VECA application will add cartons to the list of on-site collection from December 13th 2021.

Ms. Do Thi Minh Trang, Co-founder of VECA, said: “We have always been researching on how to improve the app, including the expansion of the types of scrap that can be collected on VECA. With the current trend of regularly using milk and juice packages, cartons are an abundant source of recycled material which have not yet been fully exploited. Therefore, the addition of cartons to the collection list of VECA will bring benefits to recyclers, as well as to environment.”

The VECA application will add cartons to the list of on-site collection from December 13th 2021

In the first six months of the program, VECA will pilot on-site carton collection in 10 districts in Ho Chi Minh City, including Phu Nhuan District, Binh Thanh District, District 1, District 3, District 10, District 4, District 5, District 11 and Tan Binh District. After collection, each kilo of cartons will be converted into points, corresponding to 1 star and accumulated on the customer's account to be exchanged for gifts of recycled products. Accordingly, 1 star can be exchanged for a combo of three gift wrapping papers; 3 stars for one notebook made from recycled paper and 5 stars for a cloth bag or a pack of six toilet rolls made of recycled carton material.

After the pilot phase, cartons will be collected similarly to other types of scrap with transparent purchasing prices for consumers.

The application is now available on the Google Play Store and iOS App Store.

After collection, each kilo of cartons will be converted into points and accumulated on the customer's account to be exchanged for gifts of recycled products

Aiming at a low-carbon circular economy, Tetra Pak strives to use renewable materials and reduce emissions throughout its value chain. Currently, cartons are known as sustainable package made up of 75% paperboard coming from FSC-approved forests and completely recyclable. However, the company's ultimate goal is to increase the rate of renewable materials up to 100%. Regarding recycling infrastructure, Tetra Pak is committed to continuously supporting recyclers in Vietnam to increase the capacity and quality of recycled products. In particular, to collect and recycle cartons on a large and widespread scale, Tetra Pak is cooperating with major retailers such as Mega Market and Lotte Mart to expand carton drop-off stations in big cities. In addition, Tetra Pak together with 8 leading food and beverage manufacturers in Vietnam founded the Vietnam Packaging Recycling Alliance (PRO Vietnam) under the common goal of recycling all packages by PRO members by 2030.

VECA is highly appreciated for its transparency in collection activities when publicly listing common collection prices in that area