# Tetra Pak

> Tetra Pak cartons are not one material. They are paperboard, polymer and aluminum engineered to protect food. In 2025, the company reports 72% renewable material by weight and an industry-wide carton collection-for-recycling rate of 27%. The circular decision is still local: can a named market collect, sort and separate the layers into fibres and polyAl outputs that have real demand?

- Industry: Packaging, Paper & Glass
- Collection: Active
- Materials: Aluminum, Paper and fiber, Plastics
- Processes: Recycling, Sorting, Mechanical processing
- Evidence through: 2026-09-18
- Canonical URL: https://www.materialtransition.com/library/tetra-pak

## Material inputs to resolve

Food and beverage cartons, aseptic systems and recycling infrastructure

Tetra Pak reports that an average carton is about 70% paperboard, 25% plastic and 5% aluminum. Its FY2025 performance data reports 1.286 million tonnes of food and beverage cartons collected and sent for recycling globally, a 27% collection-for-recycling rate across the sector, and EUR 42 million invested in collection and recycling programs. The company explicitly states cartons are recyclable where adequate collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure exists. Public data does not prove a particular market's collection route, mill capacity or polyAl buyer.

**70 / 25 / 5** Paperboard, plastic and aluminum average carton composition

**1.286M t** Food and beverage cartons collected for recycling, FY2025

**27%** Collection-for-recycling rate, whole sector

**EUR 42M** FY2025 collection and recycling investment

- Paperboard, polymers, aluminum and food-safe barrier materials
- Food and beverage filling requirements
- Market-specific collection, sorting and pulping systems

### Outputs and residuals to resolve

- Aseptic cartons protecting food and beverage products
- Recovered paper fiber and polyAl fractions
- Mixed-carton residuals where separation is not available

**First decision:** Pick one market and one carton format. Trace collection, sorting, pulping, fiber output, polyAl route and product demand before claiming a carton is circular in that geography.

## Material construction

Tetra Pak states an average carton is about 70% paperboard, 25% plastic and 5% aluminum.

#### Collection signal

FY2025 reporting shows 1.286 million tonnes collected and sent for recycling, and a 27% sector-wide rate.

#### Recovery process

At a paper mill, pulping separates paper fiber from the polymer-and-aluminum fraction, or polyAl.

#### Evidence boundary

Global totals and technology descriptions do not establish a particular city's collection, processor capacity, polyAl end market or brand-owner allocation.

### Decision boundary

A carton is not recyclable in the abstract. It is recyclable where the local system can separate the fibers from polyAl and where both fractions have somewhere to go. That is the actual material-transition question.

## Material flow map

| Material or stream | Qualification gate | Process or destination | Evidence still needed |
|-|-|-|-|
| Material | Qualification gate | Process or destination | Evidence still needed |
| Used carton | Collection, contamination and local sortability | Carton sorting | Market coverage, bale quality and operator |
| Carton bale | Pulping yield and fiber quality | Paper mill | Mill acceptance, fiber destination and economics |
| PolyAl | Separation, shredding and end-market specification | Granules, panels, pallets or other product | Processor, product standard, buyer and volume |

This is a public screening map. It separates company-disclosed flows from open qualification work. It does not convert a destination into a buyer or an announced ambition into operating capacity.

## Three defensible entry lanes

#### Map a city-level carton loop

The same carton has different outcomes in different collection systems.

**Next evidence:** Collection authority, sorter, mill, polyAl processor and end markets.

#### Qualify the polyAl fraction

Fiber recovery alone does not close the carton loop.

**Next evidence:** PolyAl composition, processing route, product specification and demand.

#### Measure food protection with recovery

Aseptic performance is a core design requirement, not an inconvenience to be ignored.

**Next evidence:** Shelf-life, food-loss baseline, package design, recovery result and full-system economics.

## Evidence register

- **Sustainability performance data FY2025** Tetra Pak https://www.tetrapak.com/sustainability/measuring-and-reporting/sustainability-performance-data [1]
- **PolyAl End Product Catalogue** Tetra Pak https://www.tetrapak.com/content/dam/tetrapak/publicweb/gb/en/sustainability/TetraPak-PolyAl-End-Product-Catalogue.pdf [2]
- **Sustainability reports** Tetra Pak https://www.tetrapak.com/en-us/sustainability/measuring-and-impact/sustainability-reports [3]
- **Recycled products and polyAl end uses** Tetra Pak https://www.tetrapak.com/sustainability/focus-areas/circularity/recycled-products [4]

Source hierarchy: filings and company disclosures first. The brief states what those sources support and leaves the unresolved plant, grade, permit, buyer and mass-balance questions explicit.

## Material Transition editorial interpretation

The next useful working session starts with: Pick one market and one carton format. Trace collection, sorting, pulping, fiber output, polyAl route and product demand before claiming a carton is circular in that geography.

## Sources

- [1] Sustainability performance data FY2025 - https://www.tetrapak.com/sustainability/measuring-and-reporting/sustainability-performance-data
- [2] PolyAl End Product Catalogue - https://www.tetrapak.com/content/dam/tetrapak/publicweb/gb/en/sustainability/TetraPak-PolyAl-End-Product-Catalogue.pdf
- [3] Sustainability reports - https://www.tetrapak.com/en-us/sustainability/measuring-and-impact/sustainability-reports
- [4] Recycled products and polyAl end uses - https://www.tetrapak.com/sustainability/focus-areas/circularity/recycled-products

From the Material Transition company brief library: https://www.materialtransition.com/library/tetra-pak