Regenerating not just recycling resources

In part three of our Rethinking Recycling series, we look at how beverage cartons go beyond recycling by regenerating natural resources. Made mainly from renewable materials, their environmental performance is already very good and recycling further enhances their contribution to the circular economy.

More and more consumers want to do their bit for the environment. Recycling packaging is one of the most obvious ways they can help. Indeed, policymakers are seeking to help people significantly increase the amount they recycle through initiatives like mandatory separate collection of packaging waste in the EU.

Beverage cartons are fully recyclable, as we saw in part one of our Rethinking Recycling series. By recycling cartons, consumers are doing their bit to keep materials available for reuse and support the break away from a ‘take, make, waste’ society.

But the focus on recycling has led to a belief that packaging is environmentally-friendly only if it’s recycled. And this is not so for cartons. For cartons, recyclability is simply the cherry on top of an already very wholesome cake.

Does recycling make a difference?

Compared with other types of packaging, beverage cartons have a very low environmental impact across their life-cycle. Recycling improves this even more by lowering their climate impact even further and keeping materials in circulation.

In contrast, alternatives like plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans have a significantly higher life-cycle environmental impact. As a result, they depend on recycling to reduce their overall impact, which still remains much higher than beverage cartons overall.

Extracting and producing the materials used in these types of packaging depletes finite resources, uses huge amounts of energy and has a big impact on climate change. It also takes more raw materials to produce bottles and cans than lightweight beverage cartons.

Recycling them reduces the need for virgin fossil resources – and the energy needed to produce them – to make new products. As a result, it lowers their impact on the environment.

But even at high recycling rates, the overall impact of plastic bottles is a lot worse than beverage cartons for fossil resource consumption and climate change – the two biggest environmental impacts from packaging.

Change in environmental impact with increased recycling rates

Why are cartons so much better?

The secret lies in the renewable paper board that makes up around 75% of a standard beverage carton, with just a small amount of polymer and aluminium to act as a barrier to protect the nutritious food products inside.

The paper board is made from natural wood fibre that offers outstanding performance when it comes to climate impact. That’s because the trees it comes from actually absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere as they grow.

On top of this, the paper board that goes into cartons is produced using around 95% renewable energy that’s generated on site from the parts of wood left over from the paper making process, like the bark from the trees.

Cartons also save emissions from transport and distribution because of their efficient design and relatively light weight compared with alternatives.

As a result, independent life-cycle assessments show that cartons significantly outperform the alternatives on both climate change and fossil resource use. Their lifecycle carbon footprint is 28% to 70% lower and they use 38% to 77% fewer fossil fuel resources.

SIG’s innovative EcoPlus and SIGNATURE PACK solutions offer even greater environmental benefits, with a 28% to 58% lower carbon footprint than standard carton packs.

Regenerating not just recycling

The paper board that makes up most of each beverage carton comes from responsibly-managed sources that help forests thrive. FSC™- certification of forestry operations guarantees that the area of forest is maintained by continually planting new trees to replace those harvested.

Even as fibres are being used to make beverage cartons, trees are already regrowing to create more wood fibres. This means that cartons are already contributing to the circular economy at the start of their life by supporting the regeneration of natural resources – in direct contrast to plastic bottles that are entirely made of finite fossil materials.

Some of the materials that go into cartons also make use of by-products from other industries, such as wood chips and residues that might otherwise be incinerated to generate energy. Using these materials to create new products retains their value as a resource for longer.

And, of course, cartons can then be recycled into new products again after use.

Recycle? Yes!

Beverage cartons have a very low environmental impact compared with alternative types of packaging. But that doesn’t mean cartons don’t need to be recycled. Far from it.

Recycling is vital to keep high-quality materials in circulation. And it enhances cartons’ overall contribution to the circular economy.

In part four of our Rethinking Recycling series, we’ll look at how SIG is partnering to promote recycling around the world.