Since the first drink box recycling pilot in 1990, the aseptic packaging industry has seen recycling programs spread across the country. Commonly called "drink boxes," aseptic packages are collected in curbside and drop-off  programs along with other polyethylene-coated beverage cartons.

These cartons are recycled using a paper recycling process called hydrapulping. Hydrapulping is not new. In fact, it has been widely used by the paper and polycoat industries for more than 30 years. Nor is it technically difficult to hydrapulp aseptic packages. Currently 58 million households across the country now have access to beverage carton recycling through curbside and drop-off programs. In these communities, drink boxes and gable-top cartons are being recycled into high-quality paper products such as paper towels and tissues.

The Process

Aseptic packages are made with three materials. Paper comprises 70 percent of the package, polyethylene 24 percent and aluminum 6 percent.

Hydrapulping separates the paper from the plastic and aluminum so that the high-quality paper fiber is recovered for recycling into other paper products. Mills value the fiber recovered from aseptic packaging because of its strength, length and brightness. No de-inking is required as the ink is separated off with the plastic.

The hydrapulper operates much like a large household blender. It is filled with water, aseptic packages, and milk and juice cartons. During the hydrapulping process, large rotor blades on the bottom of the vat stir up the water. This motion creates the friction that separates the paper fibers away from the layers of polyethylene and aluminum foil.

Because no glues or adhesives are used to bond the aseptic package materials together, water and the churning motion of the hydrapulper's rotor blades easily break down the paperboard into its original pulp. The entire process can be completed in 30 to 40 minutes.

When the hydrapulper is drained, special filters allow the paper pulp to pass through while the polyethylene and foil are screened off. The  pulp can be fed directly into a papermaking machine, or may be dewatered, pressed and shipped to a paper mill. High-quality, post-consumer pulp is becoming an increasingly popular and required commodity in the manufacturing of recycled content products. Because of this, the industry anticipates that the value of paper fibers recovered from aseptic packages and milk cartons will remain high and perhaps grow as more hydrapulpers accept beverage cartons.

Collection: The Real Challenge

Aseptic packages by themselves represent a tiny fraction - less than three one-hundredths of one percent (0.03%) - of all solid waste. Because of this, they are almost always collected with polycoated milk and juice cartons, which are more plentiful in the waste stream. Through this approach, recyclers can obtain the larger volumes of material needed to make recycling of these laminated paper containers more economical. Once the aseptic packages and milk cartons are collected, they are baled and shipped to an appropriately equipped hydrapulping facility.