Keeping valuable materials in use
The majority of paper-based carton packages collected for carton recycling today are being sent to paper mills, which recover the fibres and separate the polyAl1. The fibre is reused, and post-consumer recycled packages become new products such as cardboard boxes, tissue paper and office paper. Where paper mills use dedicated pulpers to process the carton packages, the remaining polyAl can be sent to plastic and aluminium recyclers to be recycled into products such as panels, pallets, crates, furniture, and tiles.
1The non-fibre component of carton packages is known as polyAl, which designates the layers of polyolefins and aluminium being used as barrier against oxygen and humidity to protect the food content in aseptic carton packages.