Tetra Pak has reached agreement with the largest Brazilian petrochemical company, Braskem SA, to purchase limited volumes of high-density polyethylene derived entirely from a renewable feedstock. The agreement represents the first move toward using green polyethylene in the carton packaging industry.
Braskem expects the world’s first commercial-scale green polyethylene plant, located in the Brazil, to come on stream late next year and is targeting first deliveries to Tetra Pak early in 2011. The new facility will use ethanol derived from sugar cane to produce ethylene, which will be converted into polyethylene.
Under the terms of the agreement, Braskem will begin supplying Tetra Pak with 5,000 tons per year of green HDPE from 2011, for use in the production of plastic caps and closures. The volume represents slightly more than 5 percent of the company's total HDPE demand, and is slightly less than 1 percent of its total plastics purchases.
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