Around 75 percent of a Tetra Pak carton by weight is paperboard. Although we don’t own or manage any forests, we apply our purchasing power to promote sustainable forest management.
As a major user of paperboard, we have a responsibility to ensure the world's forests are managed in a socially, environmentally and economically sound way. We ensure than 100% of the paperboard in our packages comes from Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) certified or controlled sources. We do this by joining up with suppliers, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to promote responsible forest management and strengthen traceability through certification and labelling.
The FSC license code for Tetra Pak is FSC™ C014047.
Tetra Pak has been on the CDP A-List Forests Programme for the last three years in recognition for our work in managing and mitigating risks associated with the sourcing and production of timber. During 2019, we were 1 of only 6 companies, from out of total 455 companies, to be identified as a global leader in tackling deforestation in our supply chain. We have also been recognized as a sector leader for the past three years, equal to the number of years that the CDP Forests Programme has been running, achieving an A- score for our Climate Disclosure and an A score for Supplier Engagement.
In sourcing paperboard for liquid-based packaging, we follow two main principles:
- all the wood fibre in our paperboard should come from forests independently certified as being managed in accordance with the principles of sustainable forest management; and
- we should be able to prove traceability from the forests all the way to the packaging material we produce at our sites globally, which can only be achieved through independent certification of the total Chain of Custody
Partnership and collaboration with:
WWF Global Forest and Trade Network
Founding members of the High Conservation Value Resource Network
The positive impact of certification
We have long recognised the value of independent certification in the transition to a sustainable future. During 2017, as founding members of the Value and Impact Analysis (VIA) initiative we collaborated with the likes of Kingfisher and IBH, to review the scientific evidence of the positive impact of the certification of forests and the application of sustainability standards. We found that when several companies commit to a sustainable forest standard – such as the FSC™ – it has measurable on-the-ground impact on protecting and securing biodiversity.
Read more about the value impact analysis initiative: The positive impact of certification
Learn more about paperboard
About Tetra Pak
Together with our customers we make food safe and available, everywhere. Since the start in 1951 we have taken pride in providing the best possible processing and packaging solutions for food.
Tetra Pak is one of three companies in the Tetra Laval Group – a private group that started in Sweden. The other two companies are DeLaval and Sidel. Tetra Laval is headquartered in Switzerland.