Coinciding the World Environment Day, Tetra Pak for food processing and packaging signed a landmark agreement with Middle East Paper Company (MEPCO) to recycle post consumer food and beverage cartons in Saudi Arabia. The agreement held at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday came about after successful trials to demonstrate the recyclability of Tetra Pak cartons by MEPCO. “We strive to be an eco-friendly company committed to the principles of conservation and sustainability. MEPCO partnered with Tetra Pak Arabia as they are serious about addressing the environmental issues within their industry and their imprint on the Saudi society. We look forward to recycling the cartons and raising consumer awareness about environmental issues,” said Abdullah Al-Moammar, managing director, Middle East Paper Company. Al-Moammar encouraged the municipalities to distribute special bins for the recyclable stuff. “Although it's a great challenge and costs too much to separate the plastic from the paper during the recycling process, we entered this agreement to help the protect the environment. We didn't look at it as beneficial agreement,” he added. “It's also a social challenging that we face in the first place that is our country needs the social awareness of the importance of the recycling process. We need people to be educated how to isolate the different types of wastes before throwing them into trash cans,” he further said. Mohammed Angawi, Tetra Pak Arabia's Environment manager, said that Tetra Pak will provide MEPCO with its experiences in recycling field while MEPCO's role is to collect, sort and do the recycling work. Tetra Pak also will also make the public aware of the importance of recycling and the danger of filling up the waste in the ground. “We are in contact with Al-Nabtah society. This new society is specialized in plants protection and is an expert in educating the public,” he said. Recycling and sustainability are key business values to Tetra Pak worldwide and in the region. The core product of Tetra Pak's packaging is wood fiber that comes from sustainable managed forests, a renewable resource. The Jeddah factory of Tetra Pak Arabia is ISO 14001 certified and the entire factory waste is recycled regularly. Globally, the company recycles 21 billion cartons annually. MEPCO produces nearly 340,000 tons of paper every year and also collects and recycles more than 379,000 tons of waste paper. The company is planning to increase its capacity by September 2009 and will add 275,000 tons to its existing capacity. MEPCO's long-term aim is to reach a production capacity of 1 million MT by 2013. __
