The 3 Rs plus 1: Recycling

In grade school, we learn with wide-eyed zealousness  the three Rs  Reading, ’Riting, ’Rithmetic.  Though not really part of the curriculum, there’s another all-important R — Recess, but of course! And now, aside from the three Rs, some school children are discovering, with stars in their eyes, the fourth R: Recycling.

Thanks to the Tetra Pak Care and Share program, children from more than 150 partner schools are learning the importance of recycling and ultimately, sharing with the less privileged and caring for the environment. Tetra Pak believes that ingraining in the children the habit of recycling at an early age will ensure a sustainable environment.

Now in its 10th year, the program teaches kids the proper collection and preparation of used and clean Tetra Pak cartons (or packages) for recycling. This year, Colegio San Agustin (CSA) Makati’s Unit II was awarded as the school with the most number of used Tetra Pak cartons collected for recycling. The program also educates school kids on the importance of proper waste management for the benefit of the community and the environment as a whole.

Students also learn the value of social responsibility as the winning schools also get to benefit from the program and help both their school and their school’s adopted foundation or underprivileged school.

Seventh grader Marie Fortuno has learned by heart this lesson: Recycling means less trash and less trash means a better environment for everybody. For his part, sixth grader Dan Alden Baterisna has developed a keen interest in recycling and upcycling (there’s a difference between the two, but more on that a wee bit later) Tetra Pak cartons. “In one of our science classes, we made a handbag out of Tetra Pak cartons (call it the signature TP bag). I’ve learned that recycled Tetra Pak cartons can also be turned into useful products such as recycled paper for notebooks, paper bags, boxes, and poly-al roofing sheets,” he shares.

Fact is, I’ve been using these handy recycled notebooks to take down notes during interviews, which I don’t want to record so I don’t have to go through the trouble of transcribing. Nice and neat!

The beauty of it all is that Tetra Pak continues to run its business in a sustainable manner. Its six-layer aseptic carton packaging is made from fibers that are harvested from sustainably managed forests.
You could be drinking your favorite juice or milk from a Tetra Pak package/carton, or whipping up a dreamy fruit salad with whipped cream straight out of a Tetra Pak carton. Or, believe it or not, sipping wine from a Tetra Pak package. You must be familiar with these oh-so-popular local products in ready-to-drink Tetra Pak packages — Nestle Chuckie, Milo, Bear Brand, Selecta Moo, Selecta Fortified filled milk, Sunkist juice drinks, Alaska yogurt drinks, Alaska Choco, Magnolia Chocolait, Milk Magic, Tropicana Coco Quench, and the delicious list goes on and on.

Aside from its innovative food and beverage packaging-processing solutions that come in different package types in different shapes and sizes, Tetra Pak is committed to “protecting what’s good,” its overriding motto.

With more and more people becoming more and more aware of climate change and learning their lessons from calamities of catastrophic proportions (think killer typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng, Maring, etc.), Tetra Pak is also doing its bit for Mother Earth. Instead of just throwing away those Tetra Pak cartons after use and adding to our mounting garbage problem, Tetra Pak Philippines encourages consumers to put their Tetra Pak cartons to good use by either preparing them for recycling or upcycling them into useful crafts.

I asked the Tetra Pak people the difference between recycling and upcycling and here’s their reply: “Recycling happens when consumer materials get mechanically broken down, so that their raw base materials can be reprocessed and made into a new product. On the other hand, upcycling is when you redesign or refashion or restyle an item without breaking down its base materials. Upcycling basically lengthens the initial products’ usability and functionality without the use of any chemical or mechanical process. Upcycled products are still made of the same materials as their previous forms (the carton still remains a carton).”

Tetra Pak cartons’ six-layer packaging consists primarily of paper, thus it’s highly recyclable.  To prepare Tetra Pak cartons for recycling, follow these three easy steps: Flip, flap, flat. First, ensure that the package is fully consumed and the drinking straw is removed before you FLIP open the top-side flaps of the Tetra Pak carton. Second, flip open the bottom FLAP and lastly, FLAT (or flatten) the Tetra Pak carton and place it in the recycling bin for proper recycling.
The paper fiber derived from recycled Tetra Pak cartons can be transformed into useful products such as paper bags, envelopes, notebooks, etc. On the other hand, the poly-al components of Tetra Pak cartons can also be recycled into poly-aluminium boards and roofing sheets.

If your family is into craft making, you can upcycle at home by turning those beverage cartons into such fun do-it-yourself projects as pencil cases, lamps, picture frames, bags, and desk organizers.

But how can you tell whether the carton or package is really Tetra Pak (the world-renowned food packaging and processing company of Swedish origin)? Well, look for the Tetra Pak logo on the bottom of the carton. You know for sure that whatever product is in the Tetra Pak carton will retain its goodness because the six-layer innovative packaging protects the product’s flavor, freshness, and nutrition. More, it can be stored for up to six months even without refrigeration when it has not yet been opened.

Now, I know what to do with my Tetra Pak cartons after I’ve emptied them of their contents. Happy recycling/upcycling, everyone!