Tetra Pak and García Carrión achieve sustainable packaging breakthrough

Food and drink producers take note: Tetra Pak, in collaboration with leading Spanish beverage producer García Carrión, has unveiled a ground-breaking innovation in sustainable food packaging.

The two businesses have proudly launched the world’s first aseptic carton for juice packaging to feature a paper-based barrier technology, a significant step in reducing reliance on fossil-based materials.

The new Tetra Brik Aseptic 200 ml Slim Leaf carton, rolled out for García Carrión’s flagship Don Simón juice brand, is the first juice portion pack globally to use this innovative barrier and is now available in Spain.

The packaging boasts impressive sustainability metrics. The carton is made with up to 80% paper. The paper-based barrier combined with plant-based polymers in the coatings pushes the renewable content to a remarkable 92%. Crucially, the change results in a 43% reduction in the carbon footprint compared with an aseptic package using aluminium foil and fossil-based polymers, as verified by the Carbon Trust.

Don José García Carrión, president of García Carrión, commented: “We are proud to lead the way in sustainable packaging for the juice category… This innovation supports our mission to reduce environmental impact while offering high-quality products to our consumers.”

This packaging solution earned García Carrión the Factories of the Future Award 2024 for Excellence in Sustainability and Circular Economy.

The core innovation is Tetra Pak’s new paper-based barrier, which replaces the traditional aluminium foil layer in the aseptic carton. This promotes a circular economy by shifting from a fossil-based to a low-carbon, renewable alternative. Crucially for producers, the barrier maintains complete product protection: it guards against oxygen, light, moisture, and bacteria, ensuring food safety is not compromised, and the shelf life is comparable to packages featuring the aluminium foil layer.

Tatiana Liceti, executive vice president, packaging solutions at Tetra Pak, stated: “This launch represents a significant step in our journey towards fully renewable and recyclable packaging. By working closely with our customers, we’re proving that sustainable innovation can scale across markets and categories, while ensuring packaging retains its functionality and quality.”

This new aseptic carton is designed to be collected, sorted, and recycled where infrastructure is in place. Furthermore, the paper-based barrier is expected to deliver  “additional benefits downstream” for recycling infrastructure efficiency. These include maximising the recovery of paper content from the recycling process, while ensuring the production of high-quality fibre and non-fibre fractions.

This technology is part of Tetra Pak’s broader ambition to create the most sustainable food package possible: paper-based, made from responsibly sourced renewable or recycled materials, with the lowest possible carbon footprint, and fully recyclable. Producers focused on sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint should closely monitor the rollout of this technology across the juice category.