Tetra Pak provided technical expertise and financial support to Luhai Pro-environment, a trusted waste management company specialising in beverage cartons and lightweight packaging recycling.
Enhancing Xiamen’s recycling network
Tetra Pak teamed up with long-term regional collaborators Luhai Pro-environment to establish China’s first automated sorting plant for low-value recyclables. Located in the city of Xiamen, the facility introduces an innovative collection model for these recyclables, complementing the current beverage carton collection network. Technical and financial support from Tetra Pak was instrumental in bringing this ambitious initiative to life. At the project’s design stage, Tetra Pak also helped to conduct a feasibility study and shared global best practices.
An example of efficient recycling
The plant’s automated process enhances the efficiency of recycling operations, enabling more effective collection and processing of used beverage cartons. Equipped with intelligent sorting technologies and using artificial intelligence and near-infrared (NIR) sensor-based sorting solutions, the centre’s capacity can reach five tonnes per hour, four times the efficiency of traditional manual sorting. It is estimated that 60 million used beverage cartons will be collected from Xiamen's solid waste stream every year. In 2023 Luhai’s sorting centres handled a total of 758 tonnes of cartons.
“The launch of the auto sorting centre opened a new chapter of beverage carton collection in China,” said Terry Long, Sustainability Director, Greater China. “For the first time, a more holistic waste management system has been established at the city level.
Growing the circular economy
The establishment of such a plant provides a blueprint for similar future initiatives. Its successful implementation may serve as inspiration for other cities in China (and beyond) that are seeking to establish their collection systems or improve current operations through automation. In this way, the initiative can contribute to advancing more circular waste management practices on a much larger scale. A prominent think tank has been invited to study Xiamen city’s recycling model and present it to the government as a success to inspire similar models in other cities, thereby contributing to the advancement of more circular waste management practices on a much larger scale.
