New Industry Standard for Milk Bottles Planned

WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) is supporting Dairy Crest in a project to research, design and pilot a new handle-free plastic milk bottle, as part of a drive to reduce packaging waste from UK milk sales by 5,000 tonnes per annum.

18/01/08 This project will focus on one pint and two pint bottles. Packaging supplier Nampak will be responsible for developing the prototype high density polyethylene (HDPE) handle-free bottle with Dairy Crest’s designers.

Commenting on the trial, Peter Skelton, of the WRAP Retail Team said: “Nampak and Dairy Crest aim to achieve a 10% reduction in weight with the new bottle, which will set a new light-weighting standard for the milk industry. 

He added: “Plastic milk bottles are probably the most common plastic item found in household waste and manufacturers and brand owners have taken the current handled designs as far as they can go in terms of lightweighting – the vital next step is perfecting a handle-free design which works for the consumer. This project is the first phase in a much larger project with the dairy industry.

Richard Pryor, Innovations Controller at Dairy Crest said: “We know consumers need a handle on the large four pint milk bottles but this project is to understand just how much of a necessity handles are on the smaller one and two pint bottles.” 

He went on to say: “We don’t have handles on bottles of squash, juice or carbonates however the handle provides significant structural support for the bottles, so the project will focus on determining the considerable barriers of moving to a lighter bottle, and explore consumer acceptance, ergonomic grips, ease of opening, as well as production, filling and transport trials.” 

He added: “If we find consumers accept a handle-less smaller bottle, the project team will seek to develop a new ‘best in class’ and industry standard bottle by ensuring inputs from other leading dairy processors in the development phase. The HDPE bottle will be recyclable, retaining one of the key benefits of the existing Best in Class bottle. This feature combined with the lighter weight of the handle-free design means the milk industry will be well-placed to make a significant contribution to the UK’s success in diverting waste from landfill and reducing carbon emissions.” 

WRAP aims to release the results of the Dairy Crest trials of the handle-free plastic milk bottles in summer 2008. At the moment, the project is currently at a design stage. Progress up-dates and results of the trial can be accessed via the WRAP website: www.wrap.org.uk

Dairy Crest processes approximately one billion litres of fresh milk every year. If the new handle-free HDPE bottle is adopted by Dairy Crest, 1,250 tonnes of plastic will be diverted from the household waste stream per year.

The entire UK milk industry is estimated to produce between 130,000 and 150,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste annually, through the sale of six billion litres of milk. If the handle-free HDPE bottles become the industry standard and are adopted by retailers and manufacturers throughout the sector, plastic savings of 5,000 tonnes per year will be possible.

Dairy Crest was one of the first food manufacturing companies to sign up to the Courtauld Commitment in January this year and this project with WRAP is another example of their commitment to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging.