What is Tetra Pak?  You may not know how much you come in contact with this product every day.  It is the familiar packaging of everyday products such as soy milk, coconut water, soup and orange juice. I remember first seeing Tetra Pak in Europe as a teenager. All the juice came packaged that way, and I liked it.

Tetra Pak is part of a Swedish company that started in the 1950s. They are committed to not only providing safe food and beverage containers, they are also committed to sustainability.

At Tetra Pak, we create smart food processing and carton packaging solutions that help make the world better, and each day our products meet the needs of hundreds of millions of people in more than 170 countries around the world. With almost 22,000 employees based in over 85 countries, we are dedicated to our motto, “PROTECTS WHAT’S GOOD™,” and committed to sustainable business practices and innovations that make food safe and available, everywhere.

Our technologies result in safer and healthier food and beverage products with minimal impact on the environment. Protecting what’s good also means doing what’s right—for our business, our employees, our customers and our communities.

Tetra Pak practices cradle to cradle looking at the full life cycle of their products. They also maximize the use of recycled or renewable materials. They are even concerned with their carbon footprint:

Through improved energy efficiency and with increased use of renewable energy, Tetra Pak has cut its absolute CO2 eq. emissions by 12.9 per cent while increasing production by over 23 per cent over the last 5 years (a relative reduction of more than 30 per cent), according to just released independently audited figures (May 2011).

In the past, I have been concerned about products made from Tetra Pak, as there is not a local source for recycling. I live in an area of northern California where recycling is big, so this makes me assume it is difficult in other areas as well. The Carton Council is increasing recycling around the country. The closest carton recycling center to me is about three hours away.

I am pleased the company is concerned so much with the safety of our food and the environment, but recycling opportunities definitely need to be increased.

This post is sponsored by Tetra Pak