Morrisons in Netherfield is set to scrap plastic milk cartons and replace them with its own-brand fresh milk in plant-based cardboard cartons.
From this month, nine types of Morrisons fresh milk will be sold in will be sold in carbon neutral Tetra Pak cartons in an effort to save an initial 100 tonnes of plastic a year.
The new Tetra Pak cartons will instead be made from plant-based paperboard. They contain a very thin layer of plastic coating and twist caps made from polyethylene – procured from sustainably sourced sugarcane.
They have been certified by the Carbon Trust as Carbon Neutral and can be recycled at the kerbside in most UK regions.
Fresh milk is said to account for approximately 10 per cent of all plastic packaging used within UK supermarkets.
The supermarket is also swapping plastic bottles to cartons for its own label fresh juice – which they estimate will remove another 678 tons of plastic annually.
Tony Fearon, dairy category director at Morrisons, said: “Fresh milk does not need to be in a plastic bottle. It keeps just as fresh in a carton. Fresh milk is the top user of plastic packaging in our stores, so this will result in significant plastic reduction.
“Tetra Pak has also been independently verified as a better sustainable packaging option. If customers take to it, we could be looking to move all of our fresh milk to Tetra Pak cartons in time.”
Hugh Jones, managing director of advisory at the Carbon Trust, added: “We welcome this move by Morrisons towards reducing the environmental impact of its milk packaging.
“Our Carbon Trust ‘Carbon Neutral’ label, which will feature on these milk products in their new Tetra Pak packaging, recognises the CO2 reduction of this move and certifies that the cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of the packaging is in line with targets.”
Gedling residents should be made s are that Veolia, the company that recycled Gedling Borough waste does not recycle tetrapak. Cartons will have to go in he black bin, whereas the present plastic bottles can be recycled. Before Morrison’s roll out this change, perhaps they should check locally. I suspect it has more to do with distribution costs and how a square package can be packed tighter than on with rounded edges which increases a load with a subsequent effect on transport costs.