Recycling and recovery

A hands-on approach

In 2002 we set ourselves the goal that one out of four cartons we sell worldwide should be recycled in 2008. To support this, a number of initiatives are taking place in almost every country in which we do business. The goal has proven to be ambitious. Since 2002 we have been experiencing larger growth in countries where collection and recycling is generally just beginning or non-existent, while markets where both collection and recycling is available have shown to be more stable.

We support activities to increase access to recycling, and cooperate with civil society, industry, and governments. We also assist paper manufacturing mills around the world with technical expertise to carry out trials and verify the feasibility of recycling cartons at their sites. On average over 40 such trials have been performed every year since 2002.

In 2008 over 25 billion of our cartons were recycled worldwide. The increase in the amount of cartons being recycled has been over a billion cartons a year. Of course we do this in conjunction with our municipal and industry partners globally. This means that the appropriate forms of collection, sorting, and recycling will be determined by local needs. For example, we are members of CSR – Corporations Supporting Recycling, in Canada, of CEMPRE – The Business Commitment for Recycling, in both Argentina and Brazil, of TIMPSE – the Thailand Institute of Packaging Management for Sustainable Environment. We cooperate with government initiatives like Clean Up World in Arabia, or the Chinese CEC – Circular Economy Committee. And we work with the civil society through Non-Governmental Organisations.