Lee Strand launches new fresh milk product in the country’s first Tetra Pak package labelled as ‘CARBON NEUTRAL’

Tetra Pak has announced that dairy company Lee Strand’s fresh milk will be available in 1L Tetra Rex® Plant-based packaging.

The Tetra Rex Plant-based package is the world’s first, and still only, fully renewable beverage carton. It is FSC™ -certified and made entirely of paperboard, from responsibly managed forests and other controlled sources. The plastic is plant-based, made from Bonsucro certified sugarcane. 

John O’Sullivan, Managing Director from County Kerry-based Lee Strand, said, “We’re proud to expand our product portfolio and support our customers as they look to make more sustainable choices. Tetra Pak’s approach to packaging aligns with our environmental outlook and we look forward to continuing this partnership with the addition of the 1L Tetra Rex Plant-based product.”

This coincides with Tetra Pak’s launch of its Carbon Neutral programme in Europe, achieving carbon neutrality for its Tetra Rex Plant-Based package. The goal of this programme is to remove all carbon impact from the entire lifecycle of the carton.

Tetra Pak is the first packaging company to offer customers the opportunity to label their packages with the Carbon Trust carbon neutral label. The Tetra Rex Plant-based packaging has been certified as carbon neutral, in accordance with the internationally recognised PAS 2060 standard by the Carbon Trust. 

Lars Bengtsson, Cluster Leader Marketing Europe & Central Asia at Tetra Pak said, “This programme highlights our continued commitment to building a low carbon and climate neutral circular economy. We recognise the importance of helping our customers respond to consumer needs and reinforce their commitment to protecting the environment. The economy of the future must minimise carbon impact across the food and drink value chain and we believe we have a duty to support this with programmes like Carbon Neutral.” 

Tetra Pak has made significant progress on its climate goal to cap its 2020 impact across its value chain at 2010 levels, regardless of business growth, and has saved 10 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. As a member of the RE100 initiative, Tetra Pak’s energy use is 69% renewable – on track to achieve its 2020 target of 80% – and its Tetra Rex Plant-based package’s climate impact is reduced by 31% by switching from fossil-based to plant-based plastics.

The company has recently committed to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations by 2030, through the development of sustainable recycling value chains and partnering with stakeholders to help reduce their carbon footprint. 

Tetra Pak has also partnered with local and organic brands to provide sustainable, plant-based packaging which are labelled as carbon neutral. These include: globally-focused Irish agri-business, Aurivo, who will be launching its 1L and 1.75L Tetra Rex Plant-Based milk carton for its Connacht Gold, Donegal Creameries and 1.75L Organic for Us brands at the end of the summer; dairy company Vecozuivel, the first company in the Dutch market; northern Europe’s largest producer of eggs and egg products, Balticovo, who became the first in the Baltics to use Tetra Pak’s Plant-Based packaging last year and Galacteum, a Spanish dairy company, with the only brand in Spain to market pasteurised fresh milk in a half-litre plant-based format.

The carbon neutral certification reflects the efforts made to reduce carbon emissions in the manufacture of these packages, maximising energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions across each stage of the life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials and manufacturing to transportation and recycling. 

The remaining emissions are offset with investment in the following Gold Standard projects: the Ceara Renewable Energy Biomass bundle project in Brazil and the Cambodia Water Filters project.  

 

NOTES TO EDITOR:

The Carbon Trust is a global sustainability and climate change consultancy with more than two decades of experience in the sustainability sector. 

Read more about the Carbon Neutral programme

https://www.tetrapak.com/uk/sustainability/carbon-neutrality

 

The FSC license code for Tetra Pak is FSC™ C014047.