Aseptic carton recycling comes to Canada

A Canadian program to recycle aseptic cartons has been developed and implemented by Tetra Pak Canada (Markham, Ont.) and Atlantic Packaging Products (Scarborough, Ont.).

Atlantic Packaging’s Scarborough facility has sufficient capacity to recycle the 15,000 tonnes of packaging Tetra Pak produces each year in Canada.

Polyethylene makes up about 20 percent of the weight of a Tetra Pak carton, so the recycling program could ultimately produce as much as 3000 tonnes of polyethylene.

The recycling process uses a hydropulper to create a water-based slurry, explains Roger Keeley, general manager of Atlantic Polyethylene Division. From there, the paperboard, polyethylene and aluminum components are separated. Paperboard makes up about 70 percent of the weight of a Tetra Pak carton. It will be recycled into tissue products by Atlantic Packaging.

The polyethylene is shipped to a plastics reprocessor, and will be mainly used in the production of plastic lumber.

Tetra Pak has also reached an agreement with a company in Western Canada to recycle cartons recovered in that region.