According to the four, a shared commitment to sustainability has brought them together as they seek to improve environmental performance of their products.

The Council is specifically committed to increasing carton recycling in the United States. By promoting both recycling technology and local collection programs, it believes it can help limit the number of cartons that become waste.

The Council will also encourage consumers to consider the environmental impact of product packaging before they make a purchase. Both gable top and aseptic cartons are made primarily from paper, a renewable resource that is highly recyclable. In general, cartons have a smaller carbon footprint than traditional packages, the Council claims.

Ed Klein, Executive Director of the Carton Council: 'Cartons are source-reduced and made primarily of paper, a renewable resource, from responsibly sourced, well-managed forests. But we want to take our commitments to the next level, and that's where significantly increasing recycling comes in.'

He notes that the Council plans to work with communities that wish to add cartons to their recycling programs and will serve as a resource and forum for carton education.

'Currently, communities in 26 states in the US are able to recycle cartons which give more than 60 million people access to carton recycling. This is significant, but we are not satisfied. We want to increase the number of communities that recycle cartons, and we want to inform consumers in those communities that they can recycle their cartons and motivate them to do so,' says Klein.

One of the first alliances from the Carton Council to increase carton recycling is with Waste Management, which has agreed to include cartons in all their recycling programs.

Also working closely with the Council is Tropicana brand. Recently, Tropicana, Waste Management & the Carton Council announced a national campaign to increase carton recycling to every community in the US.

Acknowledgement

www.recyclecartons.com