Tetra Pak and its partners join forces to raise nutritional awareness and recycling habits among 130,000 children

“Zero Waste, Better Taste” to target 250 schools across the Kingdom

Riyadh, Gulf Tech:

In light of its engagement in achieving sustainable development and its support to Saudi Vision 2030, Tetra Pak Arabia partnered with the market-leading food and dairy company SADAFCO, and Tetra Pak’s recycling partners, Saudi Top Plastic (STP), and Obeikan Paper Industries (OPI), in a pilot project “Zero Waste, Better Taste”. The project aims at raising awareness among children about the nutritional benefits of milk and recycling habits. Taking place from the 8th of November for a duration of three months, in 250 schools across Riyadh and Jeddah, “Zero Waste, Better Taste” ’s goal is to reach 130,000 students aged between 6 to 11 years old.

Through offering interactive in-class sessions, organising competitions, and distributing SAUDIA (SADAFCO) milk samples among children, the project addresses balanced nutrition and the importance of drinking milk, while seeding the recycling culture among younger generations.
As a global leader in food processing and packaging solutions, Tetra Pak’s concern about climate change guarantees its engagement to satisfy the need for safe and sustainable food alternative solutions.
In this regard, Niels Hougaard, Managing Director at Tetra Pak Arabia Area said: “This project is a real example of how we work with SADAFCO and our recycling partners to support the Saudi Vision 2030, and to achieve common sustainable growth goals. Raising awareness in our industry and among consumers on the importance of recycling while engaging the whole value chain in our sustainability journey is crucial for achieving its success.
He added: “We are producing necessary efforts to guarantee change in behaviour and consumption patterns. Making our packaging sustainable and encouraging a strong carbon reduction ethos among our stakeholders represent a step towards protecting our planet and saving it from further damage, while keeping people and food safe.”
Patrick Stillhart – Chief Executive Officer – Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff Company (SADAFCO) said: “With almost 50 years of partnership, our collaboration with Tetra Pak lives up to Sadafco’s core values of customer focus and long-term vision. Through this relationship, we were able to achieve numerous milestones; Tetra Pak and we have been working hand in hand to ensure quality, efficiency, and innovation in the food industry to the Saudi and other Middle Eastern consumers”.
“This time, we are joining forces to raise nutritional awareness and recycling habits among 130,000 children. This is in light of our engagement in achieving sustainable development and support to Saudi Vision 2030.”
Through “Zero Waste, Better Taste”, Tetra Pak, SADAFCO and its recycling partners shed light on the benefits of milk as a source of essential nutrients as well as the importance of collection, sorting and recycling of used carton packages. All carton packages consumed by the children during the programme will be collected for recycling at OPI’s facility in Riyadh, where they will be processed to extract and recycle the paper fibers, separating them from the plastic and aluminium layers (PolyAl). The PolyAl is then collected and recycled by STP into several end products, including recycling bins that are being provided to all the 250 participating schools during the programme to accommodate the collected cartons.
“Zero Waste, Better Taste” is aligned with an ambitious campaign led by SADAFCO aiming at reaching one million children in 2,300 schools across 15 major cities in the Kingdom to raise awareness about milk’s nutritious value and recycling habits.
“Projects like “Zero Waste, Better Taste” wouldn’t be possible without true collaboration among partners. On this occasion, I would like to extend our gratitude to SADAFCO, STP, and OPI for being part of our sustainability journey”, added Hougaard.
Tetra Pak is embedding sustainability into its global strategy as it has been working on through “Go Nature. Go Carton.”, the campaign through which the company promises to provide sustainability and circularity in its packaging products and is aiming to reach net-zero GHG emissions in its operations by 2030 and across the entire value chain by 2050