Costco: Could Circular Containers Encourage Green Gardening?
Costco is giving customers the chance to connect with nature in more ways than one this springtime.
The US-based retail giant has teamed up with Tetra Pak and Keter to start selling planters made using recycled beverage cartons across its UK stores, putting the ‘green’ into ‘green fingers’.
Swedish packaging company Tetra Pak and UK-based garden product manufacturer Keter have collaborated on these products, with the aim of closing the loop on plastic production.
Each 50.5-litre planter is composed of up to 98% recycled plastic and aluminium derived from used beverage cartons.
A single planter incorporates materials from approximately 166 recycled cartons.
From carton to garden
The manufacturing process utilises polyAl pellets, the mixture of polymers and aluminium that remains after paper fibres are extracted during the carton recycling process.
These brown-coloured planters measure 39.5 x 39.5 x 39.5 x 39.5 cm and are designed to accommodate either a medium shrub or several smaller plants.
The product has already seen successful retail launches in Spain and Portugal before this UK introduction.
Awantika Chadha, Sustainability Manager at Tetra Pak UK, emphasises the importance of creating consumer products from recycled materials.
"We are investing in using recycled materials such as polyAl,” she explains.
“These planters are a great example of how advanced recycling processes can turn what would otherwise be waste into a new, desirable product.
“They support a transition towards a circular economy, one that keeps materials in circulation with a new lease of life.”
Industry collaboration
The partnership highlights growing cross-industry efforts to create closed-loop systems for packaging materials.
James Karanicolas, Commercial Director at Keter, points to the alignment with his company's values.
"Our Cube Planters encapsulate what Keter brings to the garden,” James says.
“We design all our products with functionality, style and our environmental footprint in mind. We're proud to launch these planters with Costco."
Costco has positioned itself to meet evolving consumer preferences with this product launch.
Mark Kelly, Lawn and Garden Buyer at Costco, noted increasing consumer interest in environmentally conscious products.
"Our members are increasingly on the lookout for information about the environmental credentials that they buy,” he says.
“These planters are an innovative option, because for the first time in the UK people can buy a planter made from used beverage cartons.
“It means that consumers can make an active choice to purchase a product that is made from recycled materials.”
Technical recycling process
Aseptic beverage cartons typically comprise 70% paperboard from FSC certified forests with the remainder being aluminium and polymer layers.
The production of these planters demonstrates a viable commercial application for materials that might otherwise be difficult to recycle.
Tetra Pak notes that the multi-layer composition of beverage cartons, while essential for food protection, presents recycling challenges that innovations like these planters help address.
For manufacturers like Keter, which claims all its products are 100% recyclable and designed for durability, such initiatives support their commitment to circular economy principles.
This launch represents an emerging trend of consumer products manufactured from previously hard-to-recycle composite materials.
Sustainability experts suggest that such visible consumer applications of recycled materials help reinforce the value of recycling programmes.
The success of these planters could potentially lead to expanded use of polyAl in other consumer product categories beyond garden items.
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