Tetra Pak to switch to bio-LDPE

Tetra Pak is the latest high profile organisation to work with Brazil’s Braskem and is scheduling production trials of its low-density polyethylene (LDPE) made from sugar cane.

This will result in all of Tetra Pak’s packaging items produced in Brazil – about 13 billion annually –  comprising up to 82% renewable materials.

Braskem will use ethanol derived from sugar cane to produce ethylene, which will then be converted into the LDPE.

As the world leader in the production of biopolymers, branded under the trademark ‘I’m Green’, Braskem introduced sugar cane-based polyethylene in 2010 and has a current capacity of 200,000 tons.

It is currently planning to intrdouce a polypropylene also made from sugar cane ethanol, which will be of tremendous interest to the nonwovens industry. Initial capacity will be 30,000 tons per year very shortly, with a similar capacity for the LDPE.

“The new biobased ‘I’m Green’ LDPE is as inert, resistant, and recyclable as the polyethylene made from fossil sources but contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during the sugar cane growth process,” says Braskem president Carlos Fadigas. “

Since 2008, Tetra Pak’s paperboard supplies in Brazil are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which means that all the paper used in the production of its packages in Brazil comes from forests managed in accordance with responsible forestry management principles and other controlled sources.