Tetra Pak Arabia launches school recycling competition

"The objective of the competition is to drive the collection and recycling of post-consumer beverage cartons in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while creating awareness about the importance of a clean and healthy environment," remarks Martin Fejk, Marketing Manager, Tetra Pak Arabia.

As part of the competition, students of participating schools will be collecting empty Tetra Pak dairy and beverage cartons in the next one month. The three schools which collected the highest number of empty packs will win stationery cheques redeemable at Jareer bookstore for SR 10,000, SR 7000 and SR 5000. Once collected, all the empty Tetra Pak beverage cartons will be recycled into paper products in a paper mill.

"The value of waste recycling is great and is demonstrated in civilised countries. Today's children are tomorrows' decision-makers and educating children about the need to care for our environment and save our natural resources is a vital and continuous process. I congratulate Tetra Pak Arabia on this initiative and invite other companies to play their part within the Saudi community," remarks a teacher from Global International School.

This pilot programme is part of Tetra Pak Arabia's initiative to be a responsible and environmentally committed company in line with its motto, protects what's good. Tetra Pak positions its self as a company which is sustainable by nature through their use of renewable resources, recycling and resource management. Tetra Pak cartons are 74% paperboard which comes from wood, a natural and renewable resource grown in responsibly managed forests.

Tetra Pak Arabia hopes this competition will encourage students to recycle and become environmentally aware. Results of this pilot programme will be shared with the Ministry of Education. Successful results will push Tetra Pak to the goal of eventually spreading this programme across Saudi Arabia.

"This program is a bold and encouraging move on Tetra Pak's part. It clearly shows that this is a company interested in investing in the environment and society," said ]ÞÒ öDr. Abdullah A. Naseer, the national coordinator for Arab NGO Network for Environment and Development (RAED). "I am sure this pilot will be a success and I look forward to see such programmes implemented kingdom wide."

Tetra Pak is committed to reaching a target of 25% global recycling rate by 2008. In 2005, over 20,000,000,000 Tetra Pak cartons were recycled.