SWEDEN – Tetra Pak and Axjo Group are starting a feasibility study to build a new recycling plant for PolyAl from used beverage cartons in Gislaved, Sweden, with a joint investment of up to €24 million.
The non-fiber component of carton packages, known as PolyAl, designates the layers of polymers and aluminium being used as a barrier against oxygen and humidity to protect food in beverage cartons.
Axjo uses recycled PolyAl components from used Tetra Pak packages to create new packaging solutions for the wire and cable industry, such as 3D printing spools. The PolyAl recycling plant is planned to become operational in 2025.
Alex Henriksen, Managing Director Tetra Pak North Europe: “This marks the start of implementing a completely circular economy for beverage cartons in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and shows that beverage cartons are a valuable resource that can be utilized over and over again in many applications.”
Featuring an annual recycling capacity of 10.000 tonnes, the state-of-the-art plant will recycle and incorporate PolyAl into injection molded plastic products made by Axjo, including cable drums, reels, spools and plastic storage boxes.
On his part, Jacob Nilsson, CEO of Axjo Group said: “We are proud and excited to collaborate with Tetra Pak on this circular innovation project. The PolyAl raw material will be a crucial component in our new procurement strategy.
“Having access to large quantities of this raw material in our local area opens new opportunities for us to create recycled Greenology ®* materials, with an exceptionally low CO2 footprint.
“This will provide our customers with something truly unique and sustainable. We also foresee that this will create new job opportunities in the municipality of Gislaved moving forward.”
The new plant is set to ramp up the recycling of PolyAl for Sweden, Denmark and Norway to meet the circularity goals of the proposed EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and showcases the pivotal role of recycling in helping the green transition of the food packaging sector.
The industry has already invested approximately €200 million (US$224.46m) to increase the capacity for beverage carton recycling in the EU and plans to invest a further €120 million (US$134.68m) by 2027.
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