Vitasoy launches a pilot scheme to recycle paper, polythene and aluminium of Tetra Pak cartons

Hong Kong-based drinks giant Vitasoy has reportedly launched a pilot scheme on Tuesday, October 8, to recycle Tetra Pak cartons that need specialist recycling for having aluminium, polythene and paper layers. The pilot scheme includes recycling bins, workshops, and a mobile education centre, in partnership with Secure Information Disposal Services (SSID), which operates a waste management plant in the city’s Yuen Long district.

Recycling bins along with education centre will be placed in more than 75 schools, while learning resources to be circulated in schools as well as housing estates.

As part of the programme, the 79 year old company will collaborate with Hong Kong Polytechnic University to organise environmental workshops and work with students in its School of Design to make objects, such as pens, paper shopping bags, playing cards and even apparatus used in sewage treatment works, from the paper, polythene and aluminium extracted from recycled cartons.

Dorcas Lau Shing-suet, Vitasoy’s CEO, said, “I think we always wanted to do something to tackle used paper carton waste in Hong Kong. But because there wasn’t a facility able to do the recycling, we didn’t take any serious moves until now.”

Last year, according to a survey by an environmental campaign group Green Power, about 74 per cent of all drinks containers in Hong Kong landfills were Vitasoy brands. So, the group is now pleased to see this initiative taken by Vitasoy. They also urged the drinks manufacturer to quickly widen the scheme.

“We are delighted to see the escalating demand for drink carton recycling in Hong Kong eventually catalysed the ground-breaking establishment of a local Tetra Pak recycler,” a spokesman said. “Nonetheless, we would like to further urge Vitasoy, one of the main beverage and catering giants in the city, to push their recycling job forward and not limit it to primary and secondary schools only.”