1. Product Stewardship
at Tetra Pak
A global packaging producer’s
strategies and tools
© Tetra Pak Internal
TS/MMYY
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 1

2. Tetra Pak
A global producer…
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 2

3. Tetra Pak
A global producer…
… of carton packaging for food and beverage.
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 3

4. Markets, and Products Packed
Global, and Eurocentric
Dairy-dominated
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 4

5. Vision
“A package should save more
than it costs.”
“We make food safe and
available everywhere.”
Mission
“…We believe in responsible industry leadership,
creating profitable growth in harmony with
environmental sustainability and good corporate
citizenship.”
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 5

6. Product Strategy
Value proposition:
The ability to sell almost-fresh
milk anywhere
High technology materials and machines
Minimal packaging – maximum efficiency
Absolute lowest system cost
Environmentally preferred over plastic bottles
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 6

7. Environmental Strategy
Target: 100%
renewable
materials
Eco-efficiency goes
hand-in-hand with
basic product
strategy
Engage: with EPR
and voluntary
stewardship
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 7

8. LCA – A Critical Stewardship Tool
Life Cycle Assessment
– Estimation of the cumulative environmental impact of all activities
associated with a product over its lifecycle
Critical for identifying the main causes of impacts, and
prioritizing stewardship efforts
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 8

9. Using LCA to put phases in perspective
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 9

10. Using LCA to put lifecycle phases in
perspective
Where are the hot spots?
Improvement opportunities?
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 10

11. Using LCA to put lifecycle phases in
perspective
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 11

12. Raw Material Sourcing
Engaging with suppliers
– Sustainable forestry guidelines
– Source certification: FSC
Engaging with NGOs
– Accountability and credibility:
Long-term strategy: renewable biopolymer
substitutes for polyethylene and aluminum foil
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 12

13. End of Life
Complexity
– Multiple materials
– Multiple technologies
No two cities
– Multiple players
the same.
– Multiple regulations
– Consumer behavior
Ouch!
Diversity
– Geography
– Infrastructure
– Policy
– Economy
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 13

14. End of Life: It’s Hard
To set targets
To prioritize and budget actions
To know what partnerships to seek
… what technologies to back
… which policies to advocate
Need good strategies and tools!
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 14

15. End of Life Stewardship
Management Strategy
Local autonomy and accountability: Market
Companies
– Engage local authorities and waste-management industry
– Responsible for action plans and results
– Self-funded
Central coordination: Global Environment team
– Cascade goals, aggregate results
– Share best practices, coordinate messaging
– Provide technical support: LCA, recycling technology
evaluation
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 15

16. Recycling Strategy
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 16

17. Stewardship models
Legislated EPR
Voluntary stewardship
Tetra Pak lives with both. What can we learn from
comparing them?
How would we compare them?
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 17

18. Spain: Legislated EPR
46M people
5B cartons, 140k tonnes
Legal target: 62% (recycling + waste-to-energy)
Industry-operated stewardship NPO
– Invests in infrastructure
– Contracts with WMOs for collection and sorting
– Owns collected material and sells to recyclers
“Yellow Bin” stream: beverage cartons, plastic bottles
and aluminum cans
Producers pay material-specific fee
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 18

19. Beverage Carton End of Life: Spain
Profitable
recycler
EPR fees
to WMOs
“Secondary
collection”
Cheaper than
yellow-bin
stream
Industry Network
Economic-Environmental
Analysis
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 19

20. Beverage Carton End of Life: Spain
Industry Network
Economic-Environmental
Analysis
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 20

21. Brazil: Voluntary Stewardship
São Paolo Area: 30M population
84k tonnes
No legal recycling requirement
Tetra Pak’s voluntary stewardship activities:
– Recruiting paper mills and other recyclers
– Giving technical assistance
– Recycled-product development
Single-stream recyclables collection
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 21

22. Beverage Carton End of Life: Brazil
Private
brokers
control most
material
Profitable,
non-
competing
paper mills
PolyAl
recyclers
profit as
alternative to
landfill
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 22

23. Beverage Carton End of Life: Brazil
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 23

24. Comparing Spain and Brazil
Spain Brazil
Recycling+W2E rate 50% 31%
Recycling rate 34% 31%
Recycled products/consumption 18% 29%
CO2 footprint 0.99 0.88
Recycled-product tonnage / €M infrastructure
475 744
Net economic value added -€25.5M €4.8M
(Value of recycled products – all costs)
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 24

25. Here in the US
Tetra Pak joins with competitors in the Carton
Council
To communicate the value of beverage carton
recycling to
– Municipalities
– MRFs
– Recycling paper mills
– Consumers
To motivate and support infrastructure
investment
And grow recycling access and rates
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 25

26. Strategy Success Factors
Anchor stewardship strategy in company strategy
Collaborate locally, continentally, and globally
– With suppliers, customers and competitors
– With the public sector and waste-management industry
– With credible, independent NGOs and certification
organizations
Take the lead and earn freedom
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 26

27. Tool Reflections
LCA is a critical starting point
Some key decisions are difficult without considering
how economics affect environmental impacts
Visualizing and quantifying system relationships
helps make collaboration effective
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 27

28. Questions?
October 25, 2011 ©John Lees / infraharmonic LLC 28

29. infraharmoni
c
Thank you!