The TRUTH about Tetrapak...is it actually good or secretly bad???

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Let's get into this topic I've been wanting to cover for a long time...what is Tetrapak? It is the savior of all single-use materials? Is Tetrapak recyclable and if so, how? Let's uncover all the secrets of Tetrpak in this video.
Read along with the blog post here: www.thesimpleenvironmentalist...
Are cartons recycled in your area? Check here! www.recyclecartons.com/consum...
Videos mentioned/recommended:
Things you CANNOT recycle: • 45 surprising things Y...
Things you CAN'T recycle: • 100 things that you CA...
What is wishcycling and how to avoid it: • WHAT IS WISHCYCLING? T...
The importance of recycling: • IMPORTANCE OF RECYCLIN...
Recycling vs downcycling vs upcycling: • RECYCLING VS DOWNCYCLI...
What is greenwashing? • WHAT IS GREENWASHING a...
How to spot greenwashing for yourself: • How to spot greenwashi...
The truth about bioplastics: • THE TRUTH ABOUT BIOPLA...
Timestamps:
00:00 - The history of Tetrapak
1:20 - What is Tetrapak made of?
3:34 - Tetrapak vs cartons
4:08 - Can you recycle cartons?
5:55 - How are cartons recycled?
8:15 - Plastic vs cartons: emissions
9:37 - Is Tetrapak the best?
12:11 - Single use is NOT the answer
13:26 - Bloopers
Sources:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetra_Pak
2. www.tetrapak.com/en-us/soluti...
3. www.recyclecartons.com/consum...
4. recyclemore.com/guide/tetra-p...
5. www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/6/1/20
6. www.ifeu.org/index.php?seite=e...
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Опубликовано:

15 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 57

@terryhenderson424 4 месяца назад

Yes, I would like some coverage of some the certifications, discussion of different packing like this, and discussion of different textiles. Knowledge, awareness, and education is the first step of the process. If you do some of this research for us (ok, at least for me) it just makes it simpliler, easier, and more likely to be put into my brain space.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

I'im on it!

@melinnamba 4 месяца назад

You made me chuckle calling tetrapak "the hot new material". It's been around forever. I am always fascinated by all the cultural differences I learn about in these videos. Here in Germany tetrapak has been the norm for as long as I can remember. Something you didn't mention: Tetrapaks are usually a lot more space efficient, when it comes to transport and storage, because the cartons leave almost no gaps. That's particularly interesting when it comes to stuff that needs to be refrigerated.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

Yes I know it has, the point is that it's only just now being talked about in eco circles! It's been the norm here too as I said we have milk cartons and juice cartons but it's only becomming popular with eco brands all of the sudden. YEs that is a good point!

@melinnamba 4 месяца назад

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist huh, interesting. Over here, it has also always been marketed as eco-friendly in a kinda low key way. Way before that was a mainstream thing. I remember testing my newly gained reading skill on "Tetra Pak is saving the environment" ads on the backs of cartons, back in the late nineties. I've also known for almost as long, that Tetra Pak isn't quite as green as they would like you to think. I have to keep an eye out, but I don't think brands are trying to market Tetra Pak as green packaging beyond those lukewarm ads that have been around since the nineties. I don't think you could successfully hype Tetra Pak in that way over here. But maybe it's just my social circle, that has been aware of this for a long time. By it's been the norm, I also mean, that it has always been accepted for recycling and you very rarely have the option to choose between plastic bottles or Tetra Pak. It's incredibly hard to find milk that comes in a bottle, for example. Fruit juice is more likely to come in bottles, but if something is not carbonated you are way more likely to see it packaged in Tetra Pak. The only exception I can think of from the top of my head is bottled water, which is probably mostly done for design consistency with the fizzy options.

@suzubee9602 4 месяца назад

I live in the states, we've always had tetrapak here, usually milk cartons or orange juice. But I have seen many brands pick up tetrapak in recent years, so I assumed it was another green washing technique since it was lined with plastic.

@sarastuck1416 4 месяца назад

I’m so glad you brought this topic up again. Last time I looked into whether or not carton board was accepted for recycling in my area, it wasn’t. You prompted me to look again and now it is accepted in my area. Thanks for sharing .

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

woohoo! glad it's becoming more common!

@kleptomelly 4 месяца назад

Cartons are not accepted for recycling where I live. I avoid them most of the time and pick other packaging options. If the company doesn’t have their own take back program, then terracycle is my only option other than landfill.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

But even then it takes a lot of emissions to ship back packaging to MAYBE be recycled! Unless they refill them? Regardless, cartons are far from perfect

@ProfSaraHsu 4 месяца назад

Really eye opening, thank you!

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

thank you!

@terryhenderson424 4 месяца назад

My personal, general guide is "can it be recycled"? From a less than eco-friendly perspective, ive found that general transfer station or curbside programs let me send things off for free. There were a couple of places we could recycle specific building type materials for less cost than landfill garbage; and they had Saturday hours. Despite the drive it was cheaper even when gas and time were factored in; there are some things i just dont even begin to count calculate carbon footprint for when considering things eco-friendly. Following "can it be recycled" begins the inner self discussion "will it be recycled (or get a second use)" and "is there more likely to be a closed loop system (for what im recycling)? Again, this does have more of a region by region answer. With respect of carbon footprint, the one place we used to take old wood to (nothing pressure treated nor with lead paint) would ultimatekly chip up the wood on site then use it. They took punked, rotted, imsect ridden wood along with: construction left overs; wood portions of cabinetry, wood only furniture, and wood frames with metal springs allowed. In thier system, they would extract any metal such as fasteners, nails, and hardware then sell it off; ultimate,y tjat was recycled. While we would see of others had stuff to take to make it a full load in our little pick up, this place took business and commercial loads; big loads were suppose to be pre-arranged. I found them to get rid of wet, soggy, half rotted wood frim a wood pile. This same place used to also take yard waste and logs bigger than 2" to 4" in diameter. Again, they didnt care what type of wood in terms of condition; no ivy nor morning glory/ bindweed. They also allowed business and commercial loads upto 10 yards per truck at the same price as residential yard waste. They didnt care if a business had multiple trucks lined uo as long as no one truck was over 10 yards. The other place used to accept asphalt roofing shingles which were processed (or begun) on site; no need to remove nails. I think they took in used road and driveway asphalt too; cant ssy i needed to avail myself of that service. Whst i have not gone to the effort nor cost to recycle is stryrofoam from packaging. I seldom have much, its about 20 miles away, the rules and hours keep changing, and so on.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

While recyclability is important, it shouldn't be the end all be all since it is very broken. All very good information, thanks!

@karinhart489 4 месяца назад

The carton for my heavy cream says it is “fully renewable carton”, FSC certified paperboard, plant based liner*. On the back it says plant based liner from non-GMO sugar cane. Ok, I just left a message for the lady at the trash company to ask if they are recycling them in the blue bin at multi unit buildings, also gave her name & number of dairy on carton.

@jmsl_910 4 месяца назад

great job can you loop back & let us know what they say?

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

wow that's interesting!

@anuraelle1948 4 месяца назад

this was such a helpful video thank you! I've been confused about this for years

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

thank you!!!

@carolinaazevedo2088 4 месяца назад

In my country it is very difficult to find a place that recycles it. They say it is recyclable but they don't recycle it most of the times.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

YES!!! This language makes me so mad

@CurveTheRain 4 месяца назад

My city has a special recycling program and we still cant recycle cartons here. And as “hard” as it is to recycle single material items, I just cant trust places are actually recycling cartons 😓 But I can’t wait to see the comparison video next week (or two 😋)!

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

ugh so frustrating!

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

thank you :)

@delicadacomoumelefante 3 месяца назад

In Portugal we use and recycle tetra pack for decades. For transportation is our best option because is lighter and they can do a Tetris in the trucks.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 3 месяца назад

wow cool!

@kat_thefruitbat 4 месяца назад

Really interesting- thank you! 👍👍 Also pretty strange that there isn’t accessible information on what happens to the metal and plastic components of carton. Like you said, that makes me think it is likely going to landfill. I wonder what TerraCycle does with these components when they receive carton / Tetra Pak.🤔 And in terms of what you said at the end about the single-use nature of this (and other food/drink containers)- I’ve made it a goal to start making my own plant milk at least 50% of the time starting this year. It‘s easy to very quickly go through one carton of it, and I’d like to personally avoid some of that package waste (thankfully it is accepted through curbside recycling in my part of Ohio too though, so I do recycle when I use it!).

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

that's a great goal! we should always avoid single-use no matter how "great" the material is

@racheljames9187 4 месяца назад

An extra thing... tetrapack is less fragile so tends to be used to produce containers that stack well to reduce wasted space with transport, is lightweight for transport (hence lower transport emissions), by decreasing the need for refrigeration (in long life products) reduces all of the extra emissions associated with cold storage during transport and storage at the store, and radically reduces food waste from fresh material spoilage by vastly extending the shelf stable life of foods. It also reduces transport emissions associated with store trips if you get the long life options. The main downside is its low recyclability... but most plastics aren't recycled into materials of the same quality anyway - mixed sources such as milk HDPE bottles being collected together with bleach HDPE bottles means that the recycled product using both wouldn't be food grade - the resulting plastic may be used for shampoo but not milk. I am fortunate in that there is a bulk milk supply available to me (local milk is supplied to my bulk store in refillable plastic kegs) - but there is no vegan option. To my knowledge all of the vegan options accessible to me (which I can't consume because of gut issues) are in tetrapack, which is not recycled in my area. The food miles are higher for the vegan options. The jury is out for me on which is better - I think it likely depends on your area. Hopefully someone is working on developing a brilliant and cost effective way to separate the materials for high value reuse.

@racheljames9187 4 месяца назад

As an aside... sometimes councils make a decision to collect items for recycling that they know have a low possibility of actually being recycled... because doing so improves compliance with the recycling program (i.e. a higher proportion of actual recyclables will be collected if they also collect a few things that aren't recyclable, as people don't need to think about it too much). My local council collects plastics types 1-5 (but not the soft plastics component of plastic #4), food packaging glass, paper and cardboard, steel and aluminium cans. I contacted them about it and they indicated that the plastics and cardboard collected are going overseas for reprocessing, and glass is crushed for use as a construction material. Things are lost to follow up and effective regulation when they go to the countries my council mentioned. I know from my own research that the metals recovery rate is highest, but contamination of the collected product places heavy restrictions on the end use for recycled steel. Consequently I avoid all of the waste I can, including materials that are "recyclable" in my area.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

yes when compared to glass, it is not less fragile than plastic or metal. It's all super nuanced but for sure something to keep in mind! For sure depends on your area. I don't think it's significantly better than any one material so I don't want to buy it just to send it to the landfill

@CreativeRedundancy 4 месяца назад

Hello Emma listening cartons are accepted here but mostly like down cycled or pulp is removed. I have reused them before, and thinking of more ways to try to reuse before recycling take CaRe

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

interesting!

@danh9922 4 месяца назад

Glass may not be prefect due to its weight and how easily it is to break. But it does not affect taste, easily recyclable almost everywhere, high amount of it is recycled, easy to understand and feels good in the hand

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

it is actually not recyclable almost anywhere! It's rare to find recycling programs for glass in rural areas. Glass is actually far from perfect as we will discuss in the future packaging video :)

@danh9922 4 месяца назад

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist I’m unsure about in the United States. (I only lived in NY for year when I was child.) But from my experience living mostly in UK and few years in few cities in Germany and Beppu in Japan. It was still quite common in rural areas.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

not in the US that's for sure. ALso, cool about Beppu I visited in 2021! @@danh9922

@danh9922 4 месяца назад

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist If you want to go down a large rabbit hole about the Tetra Pak family billionaires and their “vision and green activities”. I recommend it. I have met Dr Sigurd Rausing and while I don’t personally agree with her vision. Please be aware it will be very large rabbit hole. With their trusts and tax avoidance. It’s very similar model to Yvon Chouinard Patagonia founder.

@racheljames9187 4 месяца назад

Glass recycling requires colour sorting and a sufficient population size to make it cost effective. In my home state of Tasmania, with a population of 250k, all glass is crushed for use as a construction material - we don't have a sufficient population to make it sustainable, and sending it to mainland Australia would require passage over 200ks of water. Consequently it's one of the least sustainable materials we can buy food in.

@WishfulWanderers 4 месяца назад

Do you have any info on the forms of Tetra Pak that are accepted for recycling? I've heard that if the cartons are crushed, they won't recycle them. If that turns out to be true, I'm sure a very small percentage of cartons aren't crushed before reaching the facilities - either by consumers or in the waste collection cycle.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

I have never heard that but that doesn't make much sense to me. I would say leave them be just to be safe but I'm not sure!

@mellyq92 4 месяца назад

the thumbnail said milk cartons but my milk cartons arent tetra pak they are just coated paper. probably some plastic in there but no foil as they are meant to be refrigerated

@racheljames9187 4 месяца назад

here in Australia we distinguish between liquid paperboard (which has plastic and paper but no metal and needs refrigeration) from tetra pack (which has the metal layer and usually doesn't need refrigeration). Using the term tetrapack for both isn't uncommon - even in government publications - and creates a good deal of confusion for everyday people. In my home state of Tasmania, liquid paperboard is collected in recycling from the south of the state only. Tetra pack is not collected for recycling anywhere in the state. I have been able to home recycle liquid paperboard... but it was a right pain to separate the paper from the plastic at home, they don't separate easily.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

as I said in the video, Tetrapak is a brand name. Cartonboard IS coated paper. They are recycled very similarly if not the same!

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

thanks for this!

@mellyq92 4 месяца назад

if you're feeling crafty there are RU-vid videos on how to make paper out of tetra paks at home.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

woah! how do you separate the components at home?

@mellyq92 4 месяца назад

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bdoWrV90INA.htmlsi=neMaqImbG7utJRld

@racheljames9187 4 месяца назад

with great difficulty. They come apart with effort to peel the coating and base layers off if the paper is soaking wet (the paper is in the middle) but they're engineered to not separate easily because that's part of their function :) The carton base is a bit of a lost cause at home I find. I tried boiling and everything, didn't help me. @@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist

@1FUZZTUBE 4 месяца назад

Is there a reliable source to find out, preferably by zip code or street address whether or not Tetrapak is accepted for recycling. My local recycling processor doesn't have an easy way to contact them, like a website or phone number. The rules for recycling on my township webpage are very basic and not very informative beyond saying that paper, glass, aluminum and steel cans and #1 and #2 plastic is collected curbside monthly.. Any reliable resources you could recommend would be appreciated. I'm an older guy who is trying to do the right thing, but it is NEVER easy!

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

yes, I mentioned it in the video and believe it's linked in the video description as said. If you can't find it let me know! It's so frustrating that recyclers are so hard to contact. Mine in Vegas was the same.

@1FUZZTUBE 4 месяца назад

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist Saw that after I typed my comment. Thanks for the information.

@mellyq92 4 месяца назад

"popular in eco friendly circles. is it really going to save the planet" I think I missed when eco friendly people did anything other than avoid this material as much as possible.

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

interesting! SOOO many brands tout this as a savior material (Clean Cult to name one). I'm not sure environmentalists agree but some people do!

@acquisitium 4 месяца назад

take a break in speaking. you go verrrry fast,. for the rest great content

@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist 4 месяца назад

no! I will speak how I want :) if it's an issue for you, thankfully RU-vid has a gear icon where you can change the speed to match your needs. I cannot cater to everyone.

@acquisitium 4 месяца назад

@@TheSimpleEnvironmentalist pity. you have a good message.