Are Tetra Paks recyclable?

I try to compost on a weekly basis, but there is one thing that is putting a cramp in my going green style:  the Tetra Pak. 

Are Tetra Paks recyclable or compostable?  In general, the answer is no, Tetra Paks are not recyclable or compostable as is because they combine paper and plastic - and some even contain hidden metal.

Specifically, for the milk cartons with a round middle cap, you have to remove the plastic spout first to give them a shot at being compostable. I try various ways to cut the spouts out of the cartons. All of them are annoying and lead to many words in Italian.

(Of course you know already that any pure paper soiled with food like a napkin is composted, not recycled, because it contains organic matter.)

The "Aseptic" Tetra Paks used for soups, juices and more on the shelf contain alternating layers of paperboard, polyethylene plastic, and aluminum foil (see diagram below). As Whole Foods San Francisco told me this week, these have to be trashed. There is no green hope for these overzealous fusions.

I talked with the godfather of green design, William McDonough, about the Tetra Pak problem. He said that they are a "monstrous hybrid" of paper and plastic and asked, "Why don't they just make the spout out of a biodegradable plastic?"  This is what makes William McDonough so brilliant. If this were the case, then the entire carton could be composted as a whole.

The Tetra Pak Takeover

Have you noticed that Tetra Paks are taking over supermarket shelves?  They seem to be multiplying like weeds. It is unsettling that many of my favorite organic products have switched to Tetra Paks. This is inconsistent with their brands. You can't say that you are the "greenest milk" or "the best organic soup" if you are utilizing a non-green package.

In an ironic twist, Tetra Pak periodically sponsors planetary events and professes to be "one the most environmentally-friendly packages on the market."  This is greenwashing. Tetra Pak will not be an eco-star until their cartons use a high percent of recycled paper and are able to be fully composted. They try to trick us by saying that their cartons are made "mainly from a renewable resource," but we are not fooled. Paperboard is not green unless it is made from FSC-certified or recycled paper!

If most Tetra Paks are going to landfills, which I suspect they are, then they are contributing to global warming. Because all wastepaper used to be a forest, paper breaks down in landfills and releases potent greenhouse gases into the air.

In the UK, they are testing a separate collection process for "recycling" Tetra Paks. People would collect them separately and send them to a dedicated facility. This seems like a good step, but why put an additional burden on others and why not just solve the root of the problem?  This recycling process has been reported to be bogus, being put on for show to distract us from the real issue. In fact, Tetra Pak currently favors incineration as their preferred option:  burning the cartons into a cloud of toxic smoke. 

The No Tetra Pak Pledge

I am now trying not to buy anything that comes in a Tetra Pak. For example, Clover Stornetta Farms organic milk still comes in a carton without a plastic spout. Today was my first morning composting since making the pledge, and let me tell you, I am living large in San Francisco!  It was so much easier. No pesky spouts to try to cut out, and no hidden metal in the cartons. Everything went into the BioBag and then into the green bin. Voila. 

Let's encourage Tetra Pak to walk their talk. Let's encourage our favorite products to use true eco-friendly cartons. Let's design smart packaging so that valuable resources can be recovered and reused. In the meantime, I invite Tetra Pak to my residence on a weekly basis to help me do eco-chic composting. One morning with me should do the trick.

Comments

[Lloyd Alter]

Ruben Anderson of the Tyee put it best:

"The places that say they recycle Tetra Paks are liars. What does "re" mean? It means again. Can a Tetra Pak be made into another Tetra Pak? No. Tetra Paks are seven incomprehensibly thin layers of paper, plastic and aluminum. The poor suckers who try to recycle them use giant blenders to mush the paper pulp off the plastic and metal, then they need to separate the plastic from the metal."

The recycling of Tetra Pak is completely for show, to make us feel better about using them.

[Devin Taylor]

Tetra Pak has a "recycling process" at its plant in Denton for unused packaging; burning the conglomerated 5 layer material in cement kilns...

[Sandra]

In Austria there are special boxes just for tetra pak. You flatten the container put in in the box and once it is filled up, put it on the curb on the selected day and it is picked up for recycling. In Sweden they also have a special bin for Tetra Pak recycling...

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1406336895]

I try my earnest to recycle, but often wondered about Tetra Paks which I buy because it's the only packaging for coconut water, organic chicken stock, etc. I agree that it does seem counterproductive that Whole Foods and a few organic products uses Tetra Paks, but I hope that the use of it will come to an end. I ask, what is the alternative packaging?

By the way, I googled "Are Tetra Paks recyclable?" and found your blog which I will continue to read.

Thank you for the post.

Antonio
http://www.thefatlesstraveled.com

[Jessica]

I arrived here the same way as Antonio and also plan to stick around. :)

I am supremely bummed about this Tetra Pak situation. I know what I *really* need to be doing is making my own darn stock. Sigh.

[kim]

Clover Stornetta Farms milk cartons: if you look at the underside of the gable-top opening, you'll see it's labeled Tetra Pak. Which is why, on the bottom of the carton, it says "please recycle". I've been putting these in the green bin for curbside compost pick-up (full of my kitchen scraps), but I'm having trouble verifying that it's actually compostable. I suspect that, like other Tetra Paks, there's still a thin layer of plastic.

[Andrea Martínez]

Dear People,

My name is Andrea and I live in Utila, Honduras, we don't have recycling here in the island or Honduras. We burn the paper and the tetrapak is included do you recommend to burn it or what?

[eleki pua]

NO ANDREA DO NOT BURN IT! THE PAK CONTAINS PLASTIC AND ALUMINUM AND WE DON'T WANT THOSE RELEASED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. IT WAS GOOD OF YOU TO ASK. XOX

[rob]

There was ones a good product for liquids of all types, which was also recyclable, its a product that would also remove the scurge of the plastic bottle too, what is it you ask, Glass. It used to be that you got stuff in glass bottles or jars and paid a deposit that you got back when you returned the glass bottle. radical idea try using glass instead of producing more plastic. Its washable and reusable. the only reason we are using plastic is to save the manufacturers money.

[lisi howell]

Hey all. I was reading from tetra pak's recycle program that the county of SF will allow select cartons via its composting program, even with the plastic spouts. Rock on!

http://www.recyclecartons.com/center-info/?center=221&city=&county=san%20francisco

"Only cartons from the refrigerated section are compostable through your Compost collection program."

Any Tetra Paks that are the antiseptic kind (were not refrigerated when you bought them) are still NOT compostable because they contain so many layers of different materials.

This makes me wonder how San Francisco is handling the plastic spouts, because they are clearly not compostable, i.e. you can't put a bunch of plastic in your garden dirt and expect it to go anywhere!

I still don't understand what is wrong with the old-fashioned milk carton. Why do we need the plastic spout to begin with?

[ashwathi]

I do not think we can turn back the clock on tetra pak packaging. We should lobby that manufacturers use glass for half their production and 50 percent only in tetra paks. Let the consumer exercise their choice.

[Maneckji Appoo]

I am finally realizing that it's not just me bummed with the issue of how to recycle tetra paks. On the one hand, they should certainly use recycled paper. There is one issue - will the contents of the packing be preserved the same way if it were indeed recycled? I'm a psychologist and not an Environmental scientist, so I don't know.

I hope someone can do some concrete research into the application of recycled paper in Tetrapacking. Considering the amount of cartons that I only use within one month, it pains me to realize that so many trees are going down just for the food that I consume. In my country, Pakistan, there is unfortunately no system whatsoever of recycling Tetrapaks on a mass level. I have tried my level best to spread awareness and shall certainly continue to do so, specifically to avoid landfills getting used up unnecessarily.

Regards,

[Ell Jay]

I just take my old-fashioned beer can opener--the kind we used to call a "church key" -- and pop out the plastic spout. Easy-peasy.

[Sharon]

There used to be a program in the Washington DC area which collected tetra paks and sent them to third world nations (not sure where?) where they were cut into strips and weaved into hats and purses. There are a few websites with cute craft projects you can do at home with tetrapaks. Has anyone else hard of another program like this? The one in the DC area no longer exists to my knowledge.

[emily]

Everyone should watch a documentary called "Bag It" they dont so much touch on tetra packs, but it is eye opening. I myself found this blog by googling if tetra packs are recyclable. I work full time and also a student so these little packaged soups and stocks as well as the soy and hemp milk I drink make it convienient for me to make meals. I always wonder about recycling or composting, I just pop the plastic part out and toss in my reclcling bin...finally got around to researching if my efforts are worthless.

[Heather]

Great post, thank you!