Asda has announced that it will replace coloured caps with clear caps on all its own label fresh milk, including skimmed, semi-skimmed, whole, organic, and filtered milk.
The change will mean that 268 tonnes of High-Density Polythene (rHDPE) can be recycled to make new milk cartons and is part of Asda’s plan to make more of its food packaging recyclable. As a result of this change, 207 million plastic milk caps will now be recycled in this way each year.
The switch to natural-coloured caps means that they can be easily recycled back into food-grade packaging. Unlike green, blue, and red coloured caps, the clear bottle caps, which contain 30% recycled material, can be recycled, and go back into food packaging.
In partnership with Arla, the change will be rolled out in Asda stores from this month and will also affect Yeo Valley fresh milk. Customers will be able to distinguish between the different varieties by the coloured labelling on all milk bottles.
Fiona Dobson, Lead Packaging Strategy and Innovation Manager at Asda, said: “At Asda, we are committed to finding ways to reduce our environmental impact. The introduction of clear caps on our milk bottles, is part of our wider commitment to drive 100% recyclability packaging and increase recycled content levels across all of our products by 2025.”
Catriona Mantle, Head of Milk, Organic and Yogurt at Arla, added: “As the UK’s largest dairy cooperative, we are committed to our sustainability journey at Arla and the packaging we use plays a key role in this. We are continuously exploring new ways to reduce our impact and are pleased to confirm we will be introducing natural clear caps across our portfolio from early June 2023. Whilst our coloured caps are already fully recyclable and made of 30% recycled material (rHDPE), the switch to natural clear caps means the caps can be easily recycled back into food grade packaging.”
NAM Implications:
- The elimination of colour-coded caps puts more emphasis on labels to differentiate…
- …but the resulting reduction in cost will be a benefit.
- A possible means of reducing shelf price…
- …causing others to follow?
