Public urged to recycle milk, juice cartons

DESPITE a campaign by Mpact Recycling and Tetra Pak SA to get South African consumers and companies involved in recycling liquid packaging cartons, many people remain unaware that their juice and milk cartons are now recyclable.

With the globe moving towards a greener lifestyle, the two organisations are working tirelessly to make sure that message hits home with South African corporates and consumers alike. It’s been around a year since Mpact Recycling opened its R46-million liquid packaging recycling plant at their Springs Paper Mill in Johannesburg. The state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to recycle 24 000 tonnes of used liquid cartons per year, however the plant is not yet running at full capacity.

“Once the plant is able to run at full capacity, this could equate to a saving of 65 240m3 of landfill space, as well as a saving of approximately 11 400 tonnes of carbon emissions. If we can reach capacity, it will mean more cartons being recycled, so we’re calling on the South African corporate industry and consumers to help us. We need more used cartons – too many are still being disposed of in our landfills, instead of being recycled,” said Donna-Mari Noble, Communications Manager at Mpact Recycling.

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Agripa Munyai, Sustainability Manager for Tetra Pak SA, says that liquid cartons have previously been a contributor to waste in South Africa’s landfill sites.

“We are now left with the challenge of educating South Africans to recycle these products, which often take up half of our weekly grocery shopping baskets,” he said.

Items such as juice, custard and long-life milk cartons are made from a mix of mostly paperboard, and very thin layers of plastic and aluminium (called polyalu), with all these layers being important and necessary for food protection. Mpact’s plant uses technology that allows for the paperboard to be stripped away from the polyalu, and then utilised in the manufacture of other paper-based packaging.

It is estimated that 50 000 tonnes of liquid packaging is consumed per year in South Africa, and Mpact is hoping to improve collection of this material.

Consumers can deposit their long-life milk and juice cartons in their nearest Ronnie bank at schools or community centres. Information on drop-off points is available at www.recycleyourcartons.co.za.

Companies can also get involved at a pre-consumer level, where a carton is available at source. Noble encourages brands to contact Mpact about partnering in this regard. Visit www.recycleyourcartons.co.za.

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