Have you spotted this TetraPak recycling scheme?

Tetra Paks are a brand of cartons used for drinks and there is a good chance that you use some in your daily life. Despite their prevalence - each year, drink carton manufacturers produce about 55,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk and juices, and increasingly even chopped tomatoes and wine - recycling Tetra Paks has always been difficult due to the fact that they are made with a number of materials. Recycling Tetra Paks involves separating the paperboard, polyethylene and aluminium foil which can then be recycled to make a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes, to garden furniture and playground equipment.

Recycling Tetra Paks in some countries is already at a high level, but is currently only at about 4% in the UK meaning that most of the two billion cartons we use each year are going into landfill.

So it is good news that we can now recycle our long life milk, soya and juice cartons as a result of Basildon Council’s deal with Tetra Pak Ltd and the carton industry body ACE UK (Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment).

The new project means that used cartons can now be recycled through special collection bins at Barleylands recycling centre and the rear of Woolworths’ Car Park Billericay.