Moreover, I was very lucky to be a part of the Tetra Pak family as they helped me develop my personality. Not only did I find some like-minded people, I found friends with whom I had great fun. I went to the Recycling & Waste Management Exhibition in Birmingham on the 14th of September, which was a completely awe-inspiring experience.

Thanks to everyone I’ve worked with, be sure that you have all left an impression in my heart.

As I depart, I just want to say that this is not the end of a journey, it’s just the beginning… of my journey into the world of business, and I’m glad I had the opportunity of embarking upon it with a firm like Tetra Pak.

Hishma, 15 September

The adverts are appearing all across Tower Hamlets. Most prominently of all, they also appear on the sides of a number of buses – helping to spread the message far and wide around the area.

It’s great to see cartons featuring in such a high profile campaign. Not only cartons are now widely recyclable across the UK, they are recycled through kerbside collections in nearly a third of Local Authorities. The adverts are a great way of encouraging more recycling in the area and show just how far carton recycling has come to be part of such a powerful campaign.

Thank you Tower Hamlets!

Tree Day is an educational event designed to build awareness and understanding of trees and the environment among primary school children across the country.  The aim is to ensure that every child has eight full days of education on the topic by the time they leave primary school.

Anders Olsson, commented: “Tetra Pak is delighted to sponsor Tree Day as this exciting initiative complements Tetra Pak’s environmental policy perfectly. Tetra Pak cartons are made of mainly wood- a natural, renewable resource. We believe that using renewable resources like this helps us protect the planet’s resources for our long-term future.”

The competition is now closed to ideas but you can still vote for your favourite on www.renewableidea.co.uk for a chance to win a WWF adoption gift.  Tetra Pak will donate 10p to WWF’s responsible forestry programme for every vote cast.

The best idea will win £25,000 towards making it a reality in 2011 so every vote counts!

Gaelle

The team is quietly smiling today, after a thoroughly exhausting but satisfying Sunday spent conquering the rapids of Llangollen! Yes, our team takes part in all kinds of activities, and not just recycling events! Twenty four of our Tetra Pak team made it down to the white water of North Wales for a charity raft race – raising over £1,000 for Nightingale House Hospice.

Testing our fitness to its limits, we had a fantastic time using tactical manoeuvres and planning to get down to the bottom as quickly as possible. What a wonderful way to help raise money for charity and get some fresh air on a Sunday morning!

We are not resting on our laurels however, as different people across our company are involved in a whole range fundraising events this summer. Sian and Gaëlle have volunteered for the Ladies’ Midnight Walk on June 26th and will be helping out on the night!

If you register to participate http://www.nightingalehouse.co.uk/ladies-midnight-walk-2010, you might just be able to spot them as you are signing in. Not only that, but we will also be making sure everyone on the night is fully hydrated with water packed in our Tetra Pak cartons. So don’t forget to recycle them at the recycling bins provided…

Given that it has been a long time, what subject could possibly make me get back on the keyboard to type out an entry?

The answer is juice, Cawston Press juice in particular. I have always been a fan of long-life apple juice because the convenience of keeping cartons of long life juice in the cupboard until I want to chill it suits my lifestyle.

I used to buy nice but plain apple juice because there were no fancier alternatives. Until Cawston Press (previously Cawston Vale) came on the sceen and mixed things up a little. This fabulous company has created lovely mixes such as apple and ginger, apple and elderflower, apple and rhubarb, but don’t worry, they do plain old apple juice too.

The first few varieties were good enough as far as I was concerned, but then they went and made an apple and beetroot mix too. It is utterly delicious and it comes in a carton, seventh heaven.

The good folks at Cawston Press also like to let people know that they use cartons because they seal in the goodness of their juice until you want to drink it.

The drinks have proved so popular that they now sell portion packs too. These are great for packed lunches and picnics, especially as the cartons can be flattened when empty and are easy to transport back home for recycling.

Here is where you can buy Cawston Press apple juices http://www.cawstonpress.com/cawston-press-stockists.html and if you don’t have a local stockist, you should click here are you can also buy their juices on-line http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getSearchProducts.do?clearTabs=yes&entry=cawston

We would love to hear what you think of the flavours.

Fay

The whiteboard is really the hub of the action, where you can get access to all the fun and interactive parts of our sustainability site.  We’ve built this area so you can get to know the team behind all the work you see for cartons and the environment. Please get involved and find out a bit more about the fun side of what we do.

Have a good dig through the pages. Some of them are still being built, but don’t worry, they’ll be with us soon! Here is a flavour of what you can expect to find:

• Check out the hot topics, generated from your questions, comments and  the latest environmental stories
• Meet the team and explore our blog
• Find out what ‘we are loving’
• Check out the ‘carton fun’ section, bursting with all the wacky things people have done with cartons. Discover new carton crafts and  upload your own videos!
• Put us in the spotlight and ask your burning questions
• Put your investigator’s hat on and see what you can find out in the ‘did you know’ area…It’s more fun than a squashed tomato!

Why?!?

Well, maybe it won’t be that dark, but we will be turning off all the signs and non-essential lighting on all our sites across the UK and Ireland to show our support for Earth Hour. Organised by WWF, Earth Hour aims to get people, businesses and communities around the World thinking about climate change and take steps to be responsible for the future.  In 2009, over 4,000 cities, in 88 countries were involved, reaching a whopping 1 billion people worldwide.

To get our employees on board, we are giving out candles for them to take home, and staff who sign up to Earth Hour on the WWF website will have the chance to win environmentally-friendly prizes like an energy efficient pamper hamper, a candle-lit food hamper or a wind up radio.

We are really passionate about this, and it fits in with our wider, global commitment as WWF Climate Savers members, to reduce carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010.

We’re hoping that lots of other businesses and individuals will switch off and join us this Saturday to make this year’s Earth Hour even more successful than the last! Sign up today at http://www.earthhour.org/Homepage.aspx

And it’s great to go out on a high! 86% of Local Authorities now collect cartons for recycling, and nearly a quarter (24%) collect them at the kerbside, making it even easier for residents to recycle them.

One of the highlights of my time in this job has to be last year’s ‘How Do You Squash Yours?’; competition, where we got people up and down the country thinking up weird and wonderful ways to squash their cartons. A great achievement given that squashing means people can fit up to three times as many cartons in bins and boxes, helping to reduce the number of trucks on the road.

Thanks to everyone I’ve worked with for a great two and a half years, and all the best for the future. You can still contact the Tetra Pak recycling team at
enquiries.uk@tetrapak.com

Jenny.

Our panel of judges have spent a long time deliberating over which videos were the most imaginative. Thanks to Richard (our Environment Manager here at Tetra Pak), Lowelle Bryan from WRAP, blogger Rachelle from MyZeroWaste, and Hannah Gainfort who attends St.Josephs Catholic and Anglican High for taking part in the judging process and coming up with our shortlist.

Now, it’s over to you! You now have the chance to select your favourite carton squashing video in our public vote – click here to watch the shortlisted videos and vote for the video you think is most creative!

You have until the end of November to vote. Trust us, they are worth the watch!