Recycling in the Benelux
In Europe approximately 37% of all beverage cartons are recycled. Worldwide Tetra Pak® stimulates the recycling of its packages. For this it is important that the packages are collected separately from the residual waste.
Recycling in Belgium & Luxembourg
In Belgium and Luxembourg more than 80% of all beverage cartons are recycled. These packages are collected in the blue PMD bag, together with plastic packages and cans. For this, Tetra Pak works together with the Green Dot-organisations,
Fost Plus (Belgium) and Valorlux (Luxembourg), that coordinate the collection and recycling of domestic waste.
Recarton Belgium, founded by Tetra Pak Belgium, is an independent consultancy organisation that is involved by Fost Plus as centre of expertise for the collection and recycling of beverage cartons.
Recycling and incineration in the Netherlands
In the Netherlands the recycling of beverage cartons is in development. Tetra Pak is connected to the industry association HEDRA that represents the environmental interests of manufacturers of beverage cartons. After a recycling pilot in several municipalities in 2013 and its positive outcomes, there will be more than 150 Dutch municipalities in 2015 that collect beverage cartons separately for recycling purposes.
Although more and more municipalities collect to recycle, the status quo is that most households still need to put their beverage cartons with the residual waste. Together with this waste the packages are converted into useful energy in high quality incinerators; two tonnes of packages replace 1 tonne of petroleum.
