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Sustainable Industrial Design and Waste Management
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be distributed and stored without the need for preservatives for periods up to
one year. By uniting the best attributes of paper, plastic, and aluminum, the
multilayer aseptic package efficiently prevents light and air as well as water
and microorganisms from entering the package during or after packaging. It
also seals in nutrients and flavor, and removes the need for refrigeration for
months contributing to energy savings (Aseptic Packaging Council, 2005;
Olah, 2004).
Rodushkin and Magnusson (2005) studied the effect of aluminum (Al)
foil contained in the laminated carton packages on the content of the package.
They studied Al migration to orange juice contained in laminated paperboard
packages during a storage time of one year and a storage temperature of 23°C
by monitoring the Al content in the juice. Results demonstrated that Al con-
centrations in the filled juice did not change during its storage. They explained
that the Al foil in the laminated package is covered by polymer coatings so
there is no direct contact between the fill product and the foil. They further
explained that Al foil is a solid metal that has negligible vapor pressure.
The Aseptic Packaging Council (2005) stated that the low density poly-
ethylene used in the aseptic package is approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration as a “food-contact surface material”. The aseptic packaging
industry tests have shown that no plastics leach into the product contained
in aseptic cartons and no endocrine-mimicking chemicals are present in the
products. The need for paper recycling worldwide as discussed before also
includes the need for recycling used packaging carton wastes. This require-
ment also applies to composite packaging material which includes the recy-
clability of aseptic beverage cartons used for preserving liquids such as milk
(Charlier and Sjoberg, 1995). Examples of beverages and liquid food products
contained in these packages are milks, juices, cheese, tomatoes, etc. Tetra
Pak is a multinational company that provides these carton packages for food
production customers. Recycling these packages will reduce the volume of
waste dumped in open dumpsites, and save natural resources. In addition,
these cartons are made of very high quality virgin pulp, and accordingly they
are valuable to recycle. However, the combined materials present for achieving
high performance make recycling of these packages a difficult task.

Energy and material recovery
Anonymous (2001) described a technique for the recovery of the high energy
content in both polyethylene and aluminum that is associated with the pro-
duction of bauxite (aluminum oxide) material. The process of cement pro-
duction requires the addition of aluminum oxide to guarantee adequate
solidification of the cement. The residual Polyethylene and aluminum (PE/Al)
materials can therefore be used as an alternative to burning coal at cement
factories which requires large amounts of energy and at the same time provide
the facility with the aluminum oxide material that is required as an additive
for cement production. Emission measurements have demonstrated that