YIS Roots & Shoots Corelex Paper Recycling Factory Field Trip

YIS Roots & Shoots Corelex Paper Recycling Factory Field Trip

by HS Roots & Shoots Service Team

Yokohama International School HS Roots & Shoots has been organizing the collection of Tetra Pak paper cartons for 4 years! The initiative to collect Tetra Paks within the school cafeteria has expanded beyond students to include parents and teachers, making the school community more aware of recycling juice boxes and milk cartons. This month, members from Middle School and High School Roots & Shoots groups had the chance to visit the Corelex Paper Recycling Factory in Shizuoka. At the factory where Tetra Pak sends their cartons to be recycled, the students learnt about what happens to the Tetra Paks and other recyclable paper products. 


A Corelex staff member provided a comprehensive tour of the factory including a Q&A discussion session where the Tetra Pak Sustainability Manager joined by video chat. During the Q&A session and tour,  students gained a better insight into the steps involved in paper recycling and also the manufacturing of toilet paper from recycled paper.  They became more knowledgeable about sustainability and circular economies after learning that the factory uses all the materials collected along with the paper. For example, the aluminium backing from Tetra Paks along with other metal from paper binders, paperclips, calendars etc is collected together and sent to be reused for metal products and the plastic coating from the cartons is burnt for thermal energy. 

Using recycled material makes the most of precious forest resources and reduces the pressure to harvest more trees. 

Seeing Tetra Pak and Corelex’s devotion to sustainability and the SDGs further inspired the YIS Roots & Shoots group, who hope to recycle even more Tetra Paks this year! Students also hope to help change people’s thinking by looking at things like paper cartons as a resource that can be made into something that we use in our everyday lives rather than as trash to be thrown away. When students got back to school and researched further they found that all the paper towels that are used on campus are in fact made from recycled cartons.

On March 2nd 2025 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm, we will be sharing more about our actions and our visions for sustainability and lifestyle choices at the 2nd Annual Jane Goodall Institute Roots and Shoots Conference that we will be hosting right here at YIS. Please check the link above for further information. 

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