The panellists discussed how future food packaging can help address pressing priorities for people and the planet. While food packaging plays a critical role in feeding the world, it also impacts the Earth’s climate and limited resources. But, in Tetra Pak’s opinion, “we do not have to choose between protecting our planet’s ecosystem and meeting humanity’s need for food.”
Ms Tipraqsa’s thoughts were, “We are living in a world in which natural resources are being rapidly depleted. Only responsible resource management by every industry will help us stem and reverse this trend. For pulp and paper, adopting the use of FSC-certified materials is an important and critical step. The FSC label guarantees that the paperboard that companies use comes from sustainably managed forests.”
Patinya Silsupadol, the Sustainability Director at Tetra Pak, explained how the company is working to maximise the use of paper-based content in its packages while reducing the use of aluminium and plastic. Their ambition is to create a carton package that is made solely from responsibly sourced renewable and recycled materials, is fully recyclable and carbon neutral. Tetra Pak believes that such high-performance packaging will address the challenges of food availability, insecurity and waste. “While creating this future food package will not be easy and will also not happen overnight, we remain fully committed towards this goal,” he said.
Tetra Pak was among one of the first companies in the industry to receive FSC certification in 2007 and today, all of Tetra Pak carton packages are FSC-certified. In Thailand the company introduced carton packages with FSC certification in 2010, having delivered over 26 billion carton packages with this label in the ensuring 14 years.