A greener way to buy your milk
July 2, 2007 at 2:49 am
Supermarket chain Waitrose is hoping to appeal to environmentally conscious shoppers with a new reusable milk jug and “eco pak” refill pouches. Both are made of recyclable material and use 75% less plastic than typical ‘polybottle’ milk packaging.
Whitland-based Calon Wen supply the pouches and the organic milk inside them. The company comprises 20 organic family farms across Wales and was the first dairy in the UK to achieve the Soil Association Ethical Trade Symbol.
This method of buying and storing milk is not entirely new. In Canada, around 40% of milk is sold in lightweight pouches. The concept has also been launched in Australia and New Zealand, but without widespread success. Waitrose say that if the eco paks were to entirely replace polybottles in the UK, nearly 100,000 tonnes of plastic would be saved every year.
The recyclable milk jug, costing £1.99, and eco packs, at 91p, will be available in 17 London branches of Waitrose, 3 branches in Wales and in their Bath store, with plans to roll the product out across the UK.
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