a2 Milk ditches plastic bottles for cartons in UK fresh dairy first

10 Dec 2018 --- The a2 Milk Company has launched its fresh milk brand in 1 liter Pure-Pak cartons in the UK, as part of a new processing deal with Elopak customer Crediton Dairy. The UK fresh milk market has been dominated by plastic packaging with millions of bottles disposed of daily, but now the industry is seeing a high-rate of suppliers switching to carton packaging, notes Tim Smiddy, Managing Director of Crediton Dairy.

“With consumers becoming more enlightened to packaging sustainability and its environmental impact, the carton switch responds to a rising expectation for more sustainable and recyclable packaging. We expect to see a gradual shift of more products in the dairy sector moving away from plastic packaging to cartons,” says Smiddy.

To optimize the message of the product through the sustainability of the carton, it was ensured that all the materials used were made from renewable PE.

Cartons are already used in the UK’s fresh dairy cabinet for flavored milk and non-dairy products such as soy, rice and oat milk, but this is the first white, fresh milk product to move into cartons, notes the company.

Crediton used existing Elopak ESL filling technology for the product and saw products launched onto shelves in the UK in September across major supermarkets.

Natural a2 Milk comes from selected cows that produce milk containing only the A2 beta-casein protein type and is free from the A1 protein present in conventional milk. Originally, all domesticated cows produced milk with only the A2 beta-casein protein type. Following domestication of cows, the A1 protein type emerged and spread through modern farming methods. Today, all conventional cows’ milk contains a mix of A1 and A2 protein types. Now, a2 Milk is bringing back original milk which is more easily digested, says the company.

“This is the most value-added milk in cartons on the UK supermarket shelves and it gives consumers more options and alternatives to standard cow’s milk,” explains Smiddy. 

Australian dairy provider Big River Milk is also seeking a packaging overhaul in a bid to avoid adding to the “billions of single-use plastic bottles” used by the milk industry each year. The New South Wales company says it wants to start delivering fresh milk in washable and refillable glass bottles and is seeking funding.

Big River Milk concedes that the transition back to glass will be difficult and costly, but it aims to be using glass bottles in 2019. The projected budget is estimated at US$290,000, with half the funding already raised.

However, as the plastic debate rages on, a recent US and Canadian study into the environmental effects of plastics has concluded that plastics are more sustainable than the material alternatives in terms of energy use, water consumption, solid waste, greenhouse gas emissions, ozone depletion, eutrophication and acidification. Published last month, the study conducted by the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) found that replacing plastics with alternative materials such as paper and paperboard, glass, steel, aluminum, textiles, rubber and cork would result in significant net negative environmental impacts. 

In this way, sustainability may not be as simple as seems in regards to simply swapping out plastic.