Ozone Network: How is it made? We'll show it! Tetra Pak milk carton

According to WWF, forests cover around third of the global land area, providing livelihood for significant part of species. Forests produce oxygen, regulate fresh water and air, provide work opportunity for 1,6 billion people, furthermore they are the primary source of medicines, wood and paper products, what is more: they help to prevent global warming and soil erosion. Despite this, due to the wide spread clear cuts, the area of forests on Earth has been reducing fast. The simplest way of preserving forests for our grandchildren is to support responsible forest management. We can do it different ways, even during our every day shopping: for example by searching for the FSC® logo on Tetra Pak beverage cartons when buying milk and juices. Forest Stewardship Council® is an international organization which aims to promote responsible forest management. The FSC logo is not just one of the dozens of signs which aim to draw attention to green thinking and environment, but this is the symbol of one of the most strict certification systems. When we see this logo, we can be sure that the paper it marks derives from responsibly managed forests and other controlled sources, meaning that the trees the paper was made from, have been replaced by new ones or enough time was left for the forest to regenerate. We can also be sure that all companies participated in the manufacturing of the cardboards which owns the certification of this organization.

Now we will show the way of FSC labelled beverage cartons starting from here, from the forest. In this Swedish forest, just as in all responsible forestries, the goal is to preserve the environmental, social and economic balance of the forests. We can observe for example that they do not clearcut complete sections of forests, but cut the trees one by one with special machines. The cut trees are continuously replaced by new ones, resulting that forests can maintain their functions and biodiversity has also not been compromised. FSC certified logs are then transported to FSC certified paper factories, where logs are first chopped to pieces, then cellulose is separated by chemical processes; finally cardboard is made via the well-known paper manufacturing process. For the production of FSC paperboard, the paper mill uses only raw material from certified forests and other controlled sources. The paper rolls are transported then to a Tetra Pak factory, to Hungary for instance.

In the Budaörs factory, first they finalize the currently used graphics, which is then applied by plate exposure and engraving to the cliché, made from light sensitive polymer material. The printing plates or clichés are accurately mounted to rolls, and then the rolls are placed into the printing machines. The giant paper rolls are then thread into the printing machine and printing starts. Each and every color of the design is applied separately by the seven station printing machine thus it can apply seven colors at the same time. Printing phase is followed by creasing, where the folding edges of the box are formulated. In order to ensure that the liquid, filled in the box later does not leak and does not deteriorates; the already printed paperboard is being applied with different layers during lamination. A polyethylene layer is applied to the outside to protect the carton and the graphics, an aluminum foil is applied to the inside to protect the food from the sunlight and air, and yet another polyethylene layer is applied to inside that is waterproof. Polyethylene (namely plastic) arrives to the factory in granules, but it becomes fluid after being heated. While it is fluid and hot, a cooled INP roller immediately presses it to the carton and at the same time cools the composed material. Liquid food, which will be filled into the packaging, will preserve its quality for the long time without any preservatives -- thanks to these layers.