Yes, you can! Take it to your nearest Recycling for Charity recycling bank.

What are cartons made from?

Beverage Cartons are a composite packaging material, in other words they are not made from paper alone but comprise of about 75 % paper, 20 % plastic (polyethylene) and 5 % aluminum foil (for long-life products).

How are they recycled?

Baled cartons are dropped into a pulper, similar to a giant domestic food mixer, filled with water and pulped for 20 minutes.  This delaminates the packaging, allowing the aluminum foil and polyethylene to be separated from the paper fibers which are recovered to make new paper products.  The non-fibre remainder can be used in a number of applications including garden furniture and roofing materials.

New plasma technology is being developed to enable the total separation of the polyethylene and aluminum. This will permit the return of all three components of the carton to the productive chain as raw material.