Tetra Pak sustainability report highlights alt-protein advances and GHG emissions crackdown

19 Sep 2024 --- Tetra Pak has released its sustainability report for operations in the Middle East, presenting its advances toward a circular economy. Highlights include launching a range of postbiotic food solutions for beverages, dairy products, ice cream and cheese and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the value chain by 20% from a 2019 baseline.

The report covers the company’s circularity moves and social responsibility activities, including its collaborations with multiple food and beverage start-ups.

“Our investments in recycling infrastructure are a testament to our commitment to sustainability and an even deeper commitment to supporting our customers to achieve their sustainability goals,” says Marcelo Piva, sustainability director, Middle East and Africa.

“This report highlights our ongoing efforts toward a circular economy and our contributions to a more sustainable future for the region.”

Mitigating GHG emissions

The company shares that 64 million children in 49 countries received milk or other fortified beverages in Tetra Pak packages through school feeding programs.

Collaborations with critical stakeholders feature strongly on the company’s agenda as it highlights working with over 29,000 farmers — 99% of which are smallholders — in the Dairy Hub projects with three new projects added in Colombia, Nepal and India.

Tetra Pak’s global dairy processing task force, which forms part of its initiative to reduce the dairy sector’s environmental footprint, aims to assess and reduce GHG emissions in the company’s dairy processing and propagate green practices.

It also seeks to flag and implement tested reduction strategies that can advance the industry’s sustainability guidelines and reporting frameworks to foster “consistency” and a “common purpose.”

The Swedish multinational says that in 2023, it lowered operations-related emissions by 47%, upstream emissions by 21% and downstream emissions by 17%. It has set a target to reduce GHG emissions in its ambient dairy processing equipment by 50% (from a 2019 baseline).

Food and feed innovation

Tetra Pak highlights its collaboration with international stakeholders to advance innovation in the alt-protein space.With rising demand for diversified protein sources owing to a growing global population, expected to increase by 25% by 2050, Tetra Pak highlights its collaboration with international stakeholders to advance innovation in the alt-protein space. The company aims to sharpen its focus on creating a less resource-intensive supply chain, which can strengthen food security.

Danish start-up 21stBio is developing new food categories by optimizing bacterial strains to produce alternative proteins in collaboration with Tetra Pak. With its background in food processing and packaging, the company is focused on scaling modern food technology, such as precision fermentation and biomass.

The report also spotlights the company’s collaboration with Swiss start-up Kidemis, which has developed an aquafeed ingredient for fish and animal feed. The ingredient uses mycelium fermentation of agri-food waste and presents a sustainable alternative for nutritious and functional feed.

In addition to its post-biotic food concepts in partnership with AB Biotek Human Nutrition and Health, Tetra Pak is considering expanding its portfolio to include high-protein ambient yogurt, high-protein tea and sugarcane juice with reduced sugar.

Promoting best practices in packaging

By 2030, Tetra Pack wants to reduce product waste in best-practice processing lines by 50% compared to a 2019 baseline. In 2023, the company signed an agreement with the European Food Banks Federation to collaborate on reducing food waste and contributing to food security in Europe.

The global giant acknowledges the role of food packaging in the uptake of nutritious food worldwide. From a 2022 baseline, it aims to increase access to healthy food by 2 billion liters by 2030 through its ambient packaging products.

Last year, the company invested approximately €100 million (US$111 million) in packaging research and development. It injected an additional €40 million (US$44 million) into global recycling programs.