Tetra Pak CEO Pledges Step-Change in Sustainability Actions in 2011 Sustainability Update

The company has focused on enhancing the environmental profile of its products and services – from the design of processing and packaging solutions to responsible sourcing and the recycling of used cartons.

Jul 20 2011 --- Tetra Pak has published its biennial sustainability update, Mission Possible. Introducing the company’s past achievements and future goals, CEO Dennis Jönsson said “we will step up our efforts to reduce our environmental footprint along the value chain and to meet rising demand for safe and nutritious food.”

The report details what Tetra Pak is doing to reduce its impact on the environment, help customers build their businesses, ensure a robust, reliable and far-reaching food supply and improve the health and lifestyles of people across the globe.

“We have been doing this since 1952, but we know we need to do more,” said Jönsson, noting that “the world is changing faster than ever, and companies that want to compete and thrive must adapt to some of the key drivers shaping our industry, driving innovation and a step-change in sustainability.” These drivers are population growth; an increase in the number of +60 year-olds; the economic rise of BRIC* and other emerging countries; an expanding middle class; a resource crunch – water, forests, energy; globalisation; urbanisation; technological change and stricter environmental legislation and taxes.

Tetra Pak’s 2020 strategy, introduced earlier this year, puts the company’s environmental ambitions at the heart of its business. Said Jönsson: “It is a strategy focused on continuity – doing what we do well and building on our achievements. But it’s also about transformation. We recognise the need to accelerate innovation, to enhance our operational performance, achieve environmental excellence, develop our people and build our reputation.”

Through six decades Tetra Pak has worked closely with local entrepreneurs to support the creation of food processing and packaging businesses around the world. The company helped establish school feeding programmes that now benefit some 49 million children in more than 50 countries. Its Food for Development Office partners with customers, governments, UN agencies and other public and private agencies to help meet the UN Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, and improve health, education and gender equality worldwide.

And the company has focused on enhancing the environmental profile of its products and services – from the design of processing and packaging solutions to responsible sourcing and the recycling of used cartons, partnering with such organisations as WWF and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Among the actions Tetra Pak has recently undertaken to achieve its sustainability goals are:

ENVIRONMENT: Tetra Pak met its 2010 climate goal, reaching 13% absolute carbon reduction since 2005 while growing its business and has pledged to cap carbon emissions across the value chain at 2010 levels by the end of 2020. The recycling of used cartons have increased by more than 1 billion cartons per year since 2002 and now Tetra Pak aim to double the recycling rate for used beverage cartons by the end of the decade. Tetra Pak will develop packaging material based on 100 per cent renewable materials and increase the supply of FSC certified paper board used in its products to 100 per cent, with an interim target to achieve 50 per cent in 2012.

FOOD FOR DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES: Tetra Pak has pioneered the development of dairy hubs in Pakistan, bringing together small groups of farmers, to deliver a unified approach and economies of scale, increasing animal vaccination rates, reducing animal mortality, training tens of thousands of farmers and massively boosting milk collection volumes. Tetra Pak is now supporting the creation of dairy hubs in other countries such as Bangladesh.

Tens of millions of children worldwide receive milk and other nutritious drinks in Tetra Pak packages in school. These school feeding programmes not only help improve childrenbut also help increase school attendance, improve better academic outcomes and stimulate local dairy and other food economies for jobs and prosperity.

EMERGENCY RELIEF: Global reach, local expertise and strong partnerships combine to enable Tetra Pak to react quickly to provide emergency relief. During the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the FfDOinvolvement in an existing in-country school milk programme meant that Tetra Pak could swiftly supply millions of milk packs to schools and communities