In Cooperation with Tetra Pak, Uniboard, Beyti, and Juhayna A declaration of the first Egyptian Pact for used Beverage Cartons has been issued.

In one of the most important activities on the side-lines of COP 27 climate summit, currently being held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Tetra Pak, world’s leading food processing and packaging solutions company, Beyti, one of the largest producers of milk, juice and yoghurt in Egypt, Juhayna Food Industries, the leading Egypt-based manufacturer of dairy, juice, cooking products, and Uniboard, Africa’s leading card-board manufacturer, declared the Egyptian Pact for Used Beverage Cartons Waste.

The first Egyptian Pact for the used Beverage cartons seeks to support the local economy by making use of recycled products, whilst cartoon packaging are considered recyclable if they are collected and classified well in the presence of the necessary infrastructure.
This pact is to support the establishment of such activities and to contribute to a circular economy.

According to the pact the four companies commit to:

• Pioneering activities lead to raise awareness and provide educational activities to the general public on issues related to used beverage carton packaging and collection.

• Work collaboratively across the value chain to enable industry-wide change in collection and recycling systems.
• Mobilize and align stakeholders and work towards the common vision – locally, nationally, and globally.
• Expand the Pact network to increase collective efforts of the entire value chain of recyclers, collectors, manufacturers, producers NGO and consumers
• Amplifying the use of skills, leadership, expertise and capabilities of stakeholders to develop knowledge, catalyse innovation and new solutions.

For his part Mr. Mark Wiley, CEO of Betty Food Industries, said: “We are proud to participate in this pact, which will gather a great network of manufacturers, companies, foundations and non-governmental associations working in the field of waste collection and recycling aiming to contribute to the circular economy.

At Betty, we aim to invest in environmental protection schemes. “
Our commitment to people and the environment is linked to “providing responsible products”.
Our focus goes beyond the company’s direct actions through initiatives aimed to reduce the packaging we offer to consumers. We also aim for consumers to follow a healthy lifestyle by getting products made with the highest standards of safety.

Wiley confirmed that Betty made great strides in the conservation of the environment by avoiding 290 tons of plastic waste every year beginning in 2022, and through this cooperation we will proceed to integrate carton packaging into a circular ecosystem.
We also plan to spearhead educational activities on used cartoon packaging and how collecting and recycling them. ”

On this occasion, Wael Khoury, Managing Director, Tetra Pak Egypt Area said, “we aim to develop a platform to support the entire value chain in driving effective collection and recycling in Egypt. The starting point was the announcing that we are joining forces with Uniboard Papermill to recycle used beverage cartons with a joint investment of €2.5 million. This plant is planned to start operations in 2023 and this pact intends to build up the feedstock ahead of time. He added, as a global company, Tetrabak is engaged in investing with recycling companies to provide new and modern equipment and facilities to increase the productive capacity of recycling. ”

From his side, Sherif El Moallem, CEO of Uni-board said: “This pact among giant food producers and Tetra Pak is a necessary step in driving the collection of used beverage cartons. It also ensures that more of such materials are recycled and further contribute to a circular economy.” He added, “Uniboard is a leader in the international paper board market, and we are happy to partner with Tetra Pak to add recycling of used beverage cartons to our portfolio.
This joint project is further evidence of our commitment to environmental protection and is an important milestone in our ambitious plans towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, which ranks high among our priorities.”
From his side, Niels Thomsen, Juhayna Food Industries CEO, noted “Juhayna monitors its sustainability journey to measure the impact of its practices on the planet, to boost the wellbeing of its people, and to ensure that its steps forward are all taken with purpose. Our journey crosses another milestone with the signature of this pact to finally have our aseptic paper recycled noting that it constitutes around 32% of our packaging material.”
Thomsen confirmed, “Moving with purpose to achieve the main target requires special attention to the wider impact of our operations, and how this impact can be used to educate and transfer knowledge across the industry. We have already taken some steps like changing our Rayeb plastic caps to environmentally friendly, plant-based caps made of sugarcane and certified to Bunsucro standards.
We began to seriously look at sourcing biodegradable spouts for some of our products, furthering our commitment towards our 2030 goal of achieving 100% recyclable packaging.
He added “We are also ambitious to expand the pact network to increase collective efforts of the entire value chain of recyclers, collectors, manufacturers, producers NGO and definitely the consumers.”

As a matter of fact, all parties participating in the pact have several common commitments. These include complying with laws and regulations related to used beverage carton waste, supporting WEMRA in developing further the national strategy for waste management implementation, and sharing data to support the recycling investment platform.

The four parties invite entire value chain of recyclers, collectors, manufacturers, producers NGO and consumers to join the pact for a more sustainable future.