KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 (Bernama) -- Three companies -- Tetra Pak Malaysia & Singapore (TPM&S), Alam Flora Sdn Bhd and Pascorp Paper Industries Bhd -- today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enable the introduction of beverage carton recycling in Malaysia.
Under the collaboration, the recycling programme will first be implemented in the Klang Valley with Alam Flora buying beverage carton waste from the public at 30 sen per kilogramme at 35 buy-back centres.
The beverage cartons collected will then be sent for recycling at Pascorp, TPM&S' managing director Peter Jhaveri said.
"There are many ways of collecting waste materials. One is to collect directly from consumers and the other one is the waste that comes from our customers' factories when they produce their cartons by using raw materials," he said at a press conference after the signing ceremony here.
Jhaveri said last year, TPM&S distributed 804 million carton packages in Malaysia and Singapore and these were potential materials for recycling.
"TPM&S was not able to introduce the recycling programme in Malaysia much earlier as paper mills were hesitant to embrace beverage carton recycling due to lack of awareness and secondly, TPM&S was looking for a partner to assist us in the collection process. We have now found Pascorp and Alam Flora," he said.
Alam Flora's chief executive officer Mohamed Siraj Abdul Razack said the collaboration would benefit the company as 50 percent of the landfill in Alam Flora's control has either reached its maximum capacity or would be reaching it by middle of next year.
"Hence, recycling today is no longer an option but a necessity, in order to protect both the environment and the quality of life. With TPM&S initiative, we can now save 804 million TPM&S cartons a year from our landfills," he said.
Asked about the financial benefit for the company, Mohamed Siraj said there may be some financial benefits in the long run but for now it was insignificant.
Jhaveri said Germany, Brazil and Japan are among the many countries that have successfully inculcated the habit of recycling beverage cartons.
"In Germany itself, more than 65 percent of Tetra Pak packages sold are being recycled on an annual basis. By the year 2020, if Malaysia can recycle 30 percent of the Tetra Pak packages, it would be good enough," he said.
According to Jhaveri, more Malaysians should be encouraged to participate in recycling.
"Just by recycling one tonne of beverage cartons, you can save 900 kilogrammes of greenhouse gas emissions and two to three cubic metres of landfill," he said.
"Combine that with the other benefits obtained from recycling paper, plastic and aluminium and imagine the difference to our environment," he added
Meanwhile, Pascorp's assistant general manager Daniel Lew said the company would recycle the fibre in beverage cartons into box boards while the poly-aluminium residuals would be made into panel boards to be used in the furniture industry.
"The collaboration gives us an alternative fibre for our paper making," he said, adding that the it was a good start for the company in the long run.
Lew said the box making industry in Malaysia has been estimated to be worth between RM2 billion and RM3 billion annually. Pascorp is involved in supplying paper for use by the industry.
Source: Bernama.com
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