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Tetrapak
Tetra-pak beverage cartons consist of three main materials:
• Paperboard (typically 70-90%)
• Low Density Poly Ethylene (typically 10-25%)
• Aluminium foil (about 5%, only in long life or aseptic packages)
Despite this mixture of different materials, cartons can be recycled. The carton recycling process is essentially quite simple. Baled cartons are dropped into a pulper, similar to a giant domestic food mixer, filled with water, and pulped for around 20 minutes. This delaminates the packaging, breaking down the package to produce a grey-brown slurry. The aluminium foil and LDPE are separated from the fibre, which is recovered to make new paper products.
The recovered fibre is used to manufacture new high-strength products such as paper carrier bags and envelopes.
The non-fibre remainder, mainly LDPE and a smaller amount of aluminium, have been used in a number of applications including garden furniture, playground design and roofing materials.