Investigating the water footprint of Tetra Pak Carton Economy’s beverage portfolio

A growing number of companies and organizations have started to recognize the importance of water to their business and have started programs to improve the sustainability of freshwater in their processes. Virtual Water and Life Cycle Analysis are methods used to measure the impact of water trade between countries and businesses. The concept of a Water Footprint has been developed and defined for countries, businesses and products.

This paper develops the explanation of Water Footprint and discusses the difference between gross green water, net green water and embedded water. The concepts of “water use” as opposed to “water consumption” are developed to assist the understanding of the main water processes at Tetra Pak. A water footprint model for the Tetra Pak cartons is presented.

For Tetra Pak the difference between the gross green water footprint and the embedded water footprint is large. This is one of the major findings of this work. Gaps in Tetra Pak data collection and challenges connected to the water footprint throughout the production processes are discussed with the aim to assess and understand the impact on the environment.