Reportedly, more than 70% of Canadians have access to aseptic package recycling. Tetra Pak (Markham, Ontario, Canada) aseptic cartons, which are collected through both deposit and curbside programs, are recycled at various facilities, including Atlantic Packaging Products Ltd. (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) and Greencoast Papermill (Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada). The paperboard fibers are used to make consumer paper products and corrugated cartons. The residual composite plastic and foil is baled and shipped to a plastics processor.
Tetra Pak worked closely with both facilities to enable aseptic package recycling. Atlantic officially started recycling Tetra Pak packaging on September 28, 2000 and Greencoast started on October 26, 2000. Prior to those mills recycling of aseptic packaging, Tetra Pak cartons in Canada were shipped to Great Lakes, MI, and James River, WI, for recycling.
A. Lassonde is the first company in North America to use the 250-ml Tetra Prisma aseptic package. It installed a new Tetra Brik Aseptic 19 filler to accommodate the eight-sided package. For more on the Oasis Health Break aseptic pack, see Prisma-powered drinks, Packaging World. April, ’00, p. 10.
