Those colorful, handy juice boxes – what an easy, convenient container for you to use to bring a drink to school. In fact, millions of people worldwide buy more than four billion juice boxes each year because they need no refrigeration and can fit easily into a lunch box, briefcase, or backpack. What could be better? They are inexpensive to make. They are easy to ship because they stack so easily. Great invention! In fact, in 1989 the juice box won an award as the most important food-science innovation in 50 years.
But wait! Over the last few years, debate between environmental advocates and juice box developers has caused people to reconsider whether the juice box is as good as it initially seemed.
Juice boxes, which are aseptic (germ-free) packaging, are made of six layers of laminated (having layers bonded together) paper, polyethylene (a plastic), and aluminum. That makes the drink box difficult to recycle, claim the environmentalists. Most of America’s recycling plants are not equipped for hydrapulping, or separating paper from plastic and aluminum.
Not a problem, says the Tetra Pak Company, a leading manufacturer of drink boxes. The drink box is small and efficient, and so provides more juice in less packaging. Fewer resources are used in making, storing, and delivering juice boxes. And there is less to throw away.
Hold on! respond the environmentalists. Juice boxes add between 30,000 and 65,000 metric tons of solid waste to landfills each year. Because of their laminated construction, juice boxes may take 300 to 400 years to decompose. The manufacturers respond that juice boxes can be flattened after use, and account for only a small part of solid waste by weight.
The environmentalists remain concerned, and believe that our “throwaway” attitude needs to change. Steve Romalewski of the New York Public Interest Research Group says, “A drink box is one of the most glaring examples of a throwaway society.” The environmentalists want us to carry a reusable container, like a thermos. Reusing is better than recycling.
The Aseptic Packaging Council is busy countering that opinion by helping to establish recycling projects in a few communities in 12 states. They help schools learn to recycle juice boxes as part of their lunch programs.
That helps, say the environmentalists, but recycling juice boxes produces polluted water as a byproduct. Tetra Pak counters in defense of the drink box: Only one in five glass bottles is recycled, says the company. That’s a problem, too.
So we’re faced with a dilemma – how to carry our drinks. Let’s decide wisely: Our choices will have a great impact on the planet and its health in the future.
by by Marilyn G. Salerno, Clay County Middle School, Kentucky
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