Stora Enso, Tetra Pak invest in beverage carton recycling line

Helsinki-based Stora Enso, a global packaging producer, has partnered with Switzerland-based Tetra Pak, a packaging solutions company, to invest a combined 29 million euros (or almost $31.7 million) in a new recycling line for postconsumer beverage cartons in Poland.

Stora Enso reports that it has invested approximately 17 million euros (or about $18.6 million) into a new repulping line that will recover the carton fibers, and Tetra Pak, along with Plastigram, have invested a total of 12 million euros (or about $13.1 million) to build the new line. Stora Enso says the line has the potential to triple the annual recycling capacity of beverage cartons in Poland from 25,000 metric tons per year to 75,000 metric tons per year. The new line also provides scope to absorb the entire volume of beverage cartons sold in Poland as well as additional volumes from neighboring countries, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Featuring an annual capacity of 50,000 metric tons, the line at Stora Enso’s production unit in Ostrołęka, Poland, handles solely beverage carton material separation, detaching fibers from polymers and aluminum. Stora Enso says the fibers are recycled into carton board materials.

According to a press release from Stora Enso, this new recycling line is complemented by Czech-based Plastigram Industries that is industrializing a solution to recycle the nonfiber component of carton packages known as “polyAl,” which designates the layers of polyolefins and aluminum used as a barrier in the cartons, into new products. Stora Enso says Plastigram is working with Tetra Pak on that solution.

“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,” says Lars Holmquist, executive vice president of sustainability and communications at Tetra Pak. “In 2022, Tetra Pak contributed nearly 30 million euros to collection and recycling projects worldwide, with plans to go further and invest up to 40 million euros annually over the next years. As part of the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment, we support the industry’s ambition to increase the collection for recycling rate of beverage cartons to 90 percent and the recycling rate to 70 percent in the EU by 2030. I am very pleased to see that our collaboration with Stora Enso translates into one of the largest recycling hubs for beverage cartons in Europe, contributing to this ambition. This is also an excellent example of how systemic and collective actions can help keep quality renewable materials, like paper fibers, in the loop.”

According to Stora Enso, this investment signals that the beverage carton industry wants to support circularity goals of the proposed EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. The packaging industry has already invested about 200 million euros to increase capacity for beverage carton recycling in the European Union and plans to invest an additional 120 million euros by 2027.

“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,” says Hannu Kasurinen, executive vice president of packaging materials at Stora Enso. “This new modern solution marks a significant addition to European recycling capacity and a concrete step forward in the circularity of consumer packaging. In addition to complementing the current scope of our production site in Poland, the recycling facility will significantly contribute towards the recycling and waste reduction goals of the EU’s proposal for a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.”