POLAND – Finnish pulp and paper maker Stora Enso in collaboration with Tetra Pak has opened a new recycling line for post-consumer beverage cartons in Poland.
Under the partnership, Stora Enso has invested around €17m (US$ 8.66m) in the new repulping line that will recover the carton fibers. Tetra Pak and Plastigram have invested around €12m (US$13.17m) to construct the new line.
According to the Finnish company, the new line can increase the annual recycling capacity of beverage cartons in Poland from 25,000 to 75,000 tonnes.
The line also has the potential to recycle the entire volume of beverage cartons sold in Poland. Additionally, it can accommodate extra volumes from surrounding nations like the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.
Tetra Pak Sustainability & Communications EVP Lars Holmquist said: “For decades, we have been working to enhance beverage carton recycling capacity, co-investing with recyclers, technology providers and suppliers in new equipment and facilities.
“In 2022, Tetra Pak contributed nearly €30m (US$32.93m) to collection and recycling projects worldwide, with plans to go further and invest up to €40m (US$43.91m) annually over the next years.
Holmquist continued: “As part of the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE), we support the industry ambition to increase the collection for a recycling rate of beverage cartons to 90% and the recycling rate to 70%, in the EU, by 2030.”
The advanced line at Stora Enso’s production facility in Ostroka, Poland, has an annual capacity of 50,000 tonnes.
It is dedicated to beverage carton material separation, separating fibers from polymers and aluminium.
Stora Enso said that the fibers are then recycled into carton board materials. This supports material circularity by turning used paper-based packaging into new paper-based packaging materials.
The new paper recycling facility is complemented by Czech company Plastigram Industries, which is working with Tetra Pak to industrialize a solution to recycle polyAl, the non-fiber component of carton packages, into new products.
Stora Enso Packaging Materials EVP Hannu Kasurinen added: “We are very pleased to see the results of our close cooperation with Tetra Pak, who, like Stora Enso, has the development of sustainable solutions at their core.
“This new modern solution marks a significant addition to European recycling capacity and a concrete step forward in the circularity of consumer packaging.”
Last year, Stora Enso and Tetra Pak carried out a study into a shared beverage recycling solution.
This would involve one dedicated plant for producing recycled containerboard from recovered fibers and a partner facility for recycling the polymer and aluminium barrier materials.
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