ACE UK

The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE UK)

The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE UK) is an alliance that represents the top manufacturers of food and drink cartons in the UK and Europe, including Tetra Pak, Elopak and SIG Combibloc. The organisation's goal is to promote these cartons as an environmentally friendly choice for packaging, as they are fully recyclable, renewable and have a low carbon footprint.

ACE UK carries out a number of environmental initiatives on behalf of its members, including managing the industry's food and drink carton recycling programme.

Sustainable & renewable

One of the main raw materials used in the production of food and drink cartons is wood fibre, which ACE members are committed to sourcing responsibly. They ensure that the wood comes from responsibly managed forests where every tree harvested is replaced by new saplings or naturally growing trees. This practice ensures that the forests remain a renewable resource for generations to come.

To combat illegal logging and ensure that all wood used is responsibly sourced, ACE members, including Tetra Pak, Elopak and SIG Combibloc, have put in place rigorous traceability systems. These systems enable them to trace the origin of the wood fibre back to the forest area it came from. The traceability systems are independently verified and certified annually according to 'Chain of Custody' (CoC) standards set by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and/or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).

To further demonstrate their commitment to responsible sourcing, all paperboard purchased globally by ACE UK members for the manufacture of food and drink cartons and all their own packaging material manufacturing plants worldwide are 100% Chain of Custody certified. This commitment is subject to an annual review by ProForest, an independent verifier of forest supply chain practices.