The Swedish Pavilion to Expo 2020 in Dubai is situated in the Sustainability District. As per their official website, it is for the first time ever a sustainable building completely in timber is erected in the UAE. Approximately 2,600 cubic meters of timber has been used for the structure and approximately half of it is in the substructure, according to official statement. A comparable structure in reinforced concrete would create a CO2 footprint of around 1,200 tonnes. The net effect of “The Forest” as a timber building compared to a concrete structure is somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 tonnes less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the organisers claimed. Tabletops and other furniture are provided by Tetra Pak, made of recycled packages.
Tetra Pak's approach to sustainability
Tetra Pak is a Swedish-Swiss multinational food packaging and processing company, which offers packaging, filling machines and processing for dairy, beverages, cheese, ice cream and prepared food, including distribution tools like accumulators, cap applicators, conveyors, crate packers, film wrappers, line controllers and straw applicators.
Adolfo Orive, CEO of Tetra Pak said in his introduction to their Sustainability Report 2021, that, “With a strong sustainability foundation and bold ambitions to lead the sustainability transformation, we will continue to pioneer a sustainable future that protects what’s good: food, people, planet.”
On its official website, Tetra Pak asserts that their sustainability work and focus areas are defined by their Sustainability Forum, which comprises ten senior leaders from across Tetra Pak who represent a wide range of areas of responsibility. Sustainability is also embedded as a pillar of our Strategy 2030, which will guide their company over the next decade and beyond. The compay adds that its approach to sustainability is shaped by their brand promise: PROTECTS WHAT’S GOOD.
Sustainable packages
Tetra Pak claims that its ambition is to deliver the world's most sustainable food package, made solely of responsibly sourced renewable or recycled materials, fully recyclable and carbon-neutral. The company informs that it is currently increasing the renewable content in their products by, for instance, offering paper-based straws and sugarcane-based plastic layers and caps. At the same time they are working to voluntary sustainability standards such as those from the Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC™) and Bonsucro.
On its official website, it states that the company is trying to help put recycled materials to good use, promoting the circularity of its packaging and eliminating unnecessary waste. They are doing so by introducing the use of attributed recycled polymers in our packaging and thereby ensuring at least 10% recycled plastic content in our beverage cartons sold in Europe by 2025. The company claims that another way it is working to support the sustainable future of our planet and the long-term success of our customers is by finding ways to create our packaging solutions using fewer resources without compromising its high standards.