Tetra Pak, the world’s leading packaging and processing solutions provider, has been awarded the reputed Golden Peacock Eco-Innovation Award 2016 for its work in establishing a sustainable collection and recycling ecosystem for used Tetra Pak cartons. The Golden Peacock Award, a global benchmark of corporate excellence, underlines Tetra Pak’s responsible waste management and recycling practices.

Piyush Goyal, minister of state (independent charge) for power, coal, new and renewable energy presented the award to Tetra Pak Communications director Jaideep Gokhale and environment director Pravin Mallick at a ceremony held in Delhi on 9 July 2016.

“We started to see a growing demand in India for safe and hygienic food packaged in Tetra Pak cartons from the early 2000s. For this reason, we have been working ahead of the curve to set up a viable ecosystem to encourage and build awareness around the recycling of our fully-recyclable paper-based cartons. We began our journey from scratch nearly 15 years ago, with virtually no carton collections. Since then, we have been collaborating with stakeholders across the value chain – recyclers, waste pickers, NGOs, consumers and government bodies – to improve the collection and recycling of our cartons. Today, thanks to that early start, one in every three Tetra Pak cartons consumed in India is being recycled. Of course, there is more ground to cover but together with our partners, we are all set to keep the momentum going,” said Tetra Pak South Asia Markets managing director Kandarp Singh.