Tetra Pak increases FSC offering

Tetra Pak has revealed that it plans to offer 3.3 billion beverage cartons bearing the label of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to customers in Germany over the next 12 months. This represents about 50% of the annual production of Tetra Pak cartons in Germany.

“As a leading producer of food packaging we set standards for sustainable raw material sourcing,” says Sven Weidemann, managing director of Tetra Pak Germany and Switzerland. “FSC certification represents another step in Tetra Pak’s ongoing commitment to support responsible forest management and drive environmental performance.
Our ultimate goal is to have all supply certified to the highest standard, currently set by FSC. We are committed to increasing the number of Tetra Pak beverage cartons made from FSC-certified material as the availability of certified board increases.”

On the raw material front, Tetra Pak says it works closely with its paperboard suppliers to ensure that all supply comes from known and acceptable sources. Currently, only 5% of the global forest stocks are FSC certified, and Tetra Pak says it’s working with its partners to support an increase in supply. Since the introduction of the world’s first FSC-labelled liquid food cartons in the UK in 2007, Tetra Pak has introduced FSC-labelled cartons in several markets around the globe, with the total number exceeding 2.3 billion last year.

The FSC label guarantees that the wood fibres in the package are traceable all the way through the supply chain back to the forest, and that the paperboard used in the package comes from FSC-certified forests and other controlled sources.