Food processing and packaging solutions company Tetra Pak has highlighted key strides in its sustainability and localisation endeavours in South Africa, with the company seeking to continue this momentum by pursuing several initiatives that would bolster its impact.   

These gains, and the new efforts, were outlined during a media tour hosted by the group in KwaZulu-Natal on July 24.

This entailed a visit to Tetra Pak’s Pinetown packaging facility, which underwent a R50-million revamp in 2023 to boost local production, and also enabled the group to undertake new sustainability initiatives, factory director Carlos Jimez Arasanz pointed out during the tour.

He highlighted that, as the only aseptic producer in the country, the revamp allowed the company to produce locally, and deliver between 80% and 90% of the market needs, compared to before, when 80% was imported.

Moreover, it engendered shorter lead times for the Southern African region, with Tetra Pak now able to deliver products in about 14 days, compared with the previous 60 days when these were imported.

Arasanz said the local production had also enabled Proudly SA accreditation to be included on the packaging, which he highlighted as a boon for the company’s customers.

Also, local production has reduced the cost of transportation of products to customers, and has also lowered the company’s carbon emissions with the shift from ship to truck allowing for more products to be delivered at a time.

RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP

The other stop was the Mpact Recycling Bridge City facility, the about 70 000 m² purpose-built plant which became operational in 2022.

Mpact Recycling, which is part of the Mpact Group, has a strategic relationship with Tetra Pak.

Mpact Recycling collects over 600 000 t of recovered recyclables from both pre- and post-consumer sources.

The Bridge facility enabled Mpact Recycling to relocate its large sorting plant as well as two baling machines under one roof, from its previous location on Maydon road.

The facility collects, sorts and bales major waste streams such as paper, plastic, cardboard, and also allows for the central collection of glass.

Mpact communications manager Danielle King explained that as part of Mpact’s efforts to find alternative sources of fibre, the company in 2017 invested in a technically-advanced hydropulper, which allowed it to extract fibre from Tetra Pak’s liquid board packaging (LBP) cartons, as well as similar products, which it was previously unable to do.

Tetra Pak’s LBP cartons constitute about 75% paper board and Mpact is now able extract these components with the hydropulper, and can also collect and recycle the cartons at scale owing to its larger facility.

The aggregated paper is sent to Mpact’s three paper mills where it is made into recycled-based packaging and industrial paper grades, and sold to various offtakers including Tetra Pak

Mpact operates three paper mills in South Africa, each specialising in the production of recycled-based packaging and industrial paper grades.

Tetra Pak Southern Africa communications head Wayne Mokhethi pointed out that recycling forms part of Tetra Pak’s circularity efforts, with the company perceiving the cartons as a valuable resource, and not waste.

He highlighted that millions of cartons were collected yearly, with 80% of these collected by the informal sector, underscoring the importance of this to the country’s recycling efforts.

Mokhethi said the strategic partnership with Mpact allowsed Tetra Pak to leverage the former’s over 200 dealer network and 14 personal branches nationwide.

King highlighted that the company undertook continuous education and awareness campaigns to inform stakeholders that certain products were now recyclable at scale.

She also mentioned that Mpact was always looking for new opportunities, and in this vein, had been extending its collection network to more places in the country.

RECYCLING SECTOR

Both companies are working to grow the recycling sector at an accelerated place and are also looking to bolster their partnership.

Mokhethi emphasised that, for recycling to thrive in the country, certain key factors were required. One of these was capacity, with the Mpact facility contributing to this, and expected to meet the needs of the country for the next few years.  

Moreover, the country’s legislation has been “progressive” in terms of requiring producers to measure their recycling statistics.  

Mokhethi expressed the company’s wish for a recycling value chain that incorporated all stakeholders – from waste pickers to small enterprises and large paper mills. He posited that in about five to six years, this would be at the required optimised level to ensure a self-sustaining sector.

As part of the company’s efforts to build up this value chain, Mokhethi emphasised the importance of ensuring that everyone who collected materials was adequately compensated. In this vein, it had started offering dynamic, performance-based incentives, to plug the gap in waster pickers’ earnings, he explained.

The company is also undertaking myriad initiatives with polyAl, including launching a project in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on a tile developed out of this and other materials.

PolyAl is one of the byproducts that comes from recycling LBP products, after the paper components are removed.

Mokhethi informed that, further, the company would this year be investing R15-million into a plant that aimed to consume 100 t of polyAl monthly, for use in manufacturing outdoor furniture and the like.

Mokhethi pointed out that Tetra Pak aimed to deliver the most sustainable packaging, using responsibly sourced materials, and also ensuring circularity, with every package put out to market designed to be recyclable. The company was also concerned with reducing the carbon emissions at its operations wherever possible.

He highlighted considerable research and development work in pursuit of sustainable packaging. The company was adapting its portfolio, including deploying paper straws, deploying tethered caps to ensure these were not lost and could be collected post-consumer for recycling, and deploying plant-based packaging.

Moreover, Mokhethi highlighted continued innovation to reduce the protective aluminium layer in LBP products, by introducing a paper-based barrier to make products more easily recyclable.

The company is also endeavouring to ensure that its packaging extends the shelf life of materials, to reduce food waste.