Methods of Tetra Pak Making

Origins

• Swedish inventor Ruben Rausling created the Tetra Pak in 1951. Europe was still suffering from the ravages of WWII and Rausling realized that damage to Europe's road and rail networks made it difficult to ship milk quickly and safely from producers to consumers. He developed the combination of ultra-heat treatment and the Tetra Pak packaging to combat this problem. The heat treatment makes the milk stable at room temperature for longer periods, while the Tetra Pak packaging was cheap to manufacture and completely airtight. Soon, Tetra Paks were used to package other liquids, including yogurts and juice.

Materials

• The key to the success of those initial Tetra Pak containers, and the company's success ever since, is in the simplicity of the materials. Tetra Pak containers are composed mostly of paperboard, which is both cheap and environmentally sustainable.

  The paperboard is sealed on both sides with a thin layer of polyethylene, a common plastic. This keeps the paperboard watertight and airtight.

  The inside of the Tetra Pak is also coated with a thin layer of aluminum foil, which protects the liquid inside from oxidation and light.

Manufacturing

• Manufacturing Tetra Pak containers begins with large sheets of paperboard. The paperboard is printed with the packaging design. The printed paperboard is then laminated with polyethylene on both sides, and with the protective foil on the interior side. The laminated, printed sheets are cut into individual rolls, each of which is one package in width.

  These rolls are rolled by machine into a long, continuous tube. The tube is filled with liquid, and each individual container is sealed and cut off from the tube by machine. These finished, airtight containers are then folded into shape and packaged for shipping.

Environment

• The Tetra Pak was created for its social benefits -- bringing milk and other perishable liquids to populations who otherwise would not have access to them. The environmental benefits of the packaging were a side effect of the scarcity of materials in post-war Europe, but today are a major benefit of Tetra Pak over other forms of packaging.

  Seventy percent of the weight of a Tetra Pak is paper, which can be pulped and recycled. The plastics and aluminum used in their manufacture are applied only in thin sheets and are made entirely of recycled materials. In addition, the simplicity of Tetra Pak's manufacturing makes the process energy-efficient.