Milk , milk, glorious milk. Traditional and found in most of our refrigerators, yet the packaging for this product as not changed much simply moving from glass milk bottle to plastic bottle in more recent years. However in the current age of sustainability and focus on the issues of ever increasing land fill, the packaging for milk has seen a substantial innovation.
In 2008 Lord Rooker, the Food and Farming Minister in the UK called for the dairy industry to reduce the use of plastic packaging by 50% by 2020. Innovation was needed for this to be achieved.
On such solution is the GreenBottle, which a dairy in Suffolk called Marybelle uses to sell its milk to selected ASDA stores. Imagine a winebox which dispenses milk and you can picture the concept. The milk is in a plastic inner bag which is sealed inside a box made from cardboard pulp. The outer box can be recycled with other paper recycling or will naturally breakdown if left on a compost heap. An independent survey found the carbon footprint to be 48% lower than a plastic milk bottle, a step in the right direction. However, the draw back is having to separate the inner and outer bag when recycling as there are still few places that recycle plastic. Even still the inner bag takes up 0.5% of the space in a landfill compared to normal plastic bottle. Faced with a couple of weeks decomposition for the outer box of the GreenBottle or 500 years approx for an average plastic milk bottle I know which one I would choose.
Milk bags have become popular in many countries including Europe and Canada but has as yet to really take off in America. The bags tend to need jugs to be placed in, however Daylesford in the UK came up with a sleek and simple designed biodegradable bag with an integral handle which gave another option for the consumer. Waitrose, one of the sellers of this product, ironically stopped its own milk pouch and jug concept claiming there was not enough demand for this type of product.
However Sainsbury’s promotes it’s Jug It scheme nationally. The milk was able to be sold at least six pence less in bags as it used 75% less packaging than plastic bottles. The jug, which has a built in spike to pierce the milk bags and serves as a spout, was initially given away free to boost sales. MySupermarket states 3% of its 24 million weekly customers, the equivalent of 720,000 shoppers, have switched to regularly using milk bags. Although the scheme proved more popular than Sainsbury’s initial projections it still hasn’t replaced the plastic bottle. Milk bags are also used by companies like Costa Coffee which estimates it can fit 25% more milk in fridges as it takes up less space. Costa’s parent company Whitbread believes it uses 70% less plastic now they buy milk bags instead of plastic milk containers.
One store in the US that has made milk bags popular is Kwik Trip, which in addition to plastic bottled milk, sells Milk Moola which is milk in a bag similar to the Sainsbury’s Jug It scheme. This has become popular in part thanks to its charity fundraising scheme. Schools and communities can send in Milk Moola bottle tops from selected products to redeem for cash for their cause.
So what next? Cardboard cartons are still popular worldwide. I buy lactose free milk which is sold in recyclable cardboard cartons. Easy to stack on shelves but usually limited to 1 litre packages which makes them impractical for larger families. The Jug It scheme, though popular, does not have the mass appeal to make people ditch the plastic bottle. Clearly we have not seen the last of the plastic bottle but can we create a more environmentally friendly bottle which can be biodegradable? I think this is the future. Coca Cola are already investing heavily in plant based bottles maybe the solution is closer than we thought?
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
STATS
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
OUR BIG IDEA
Consumers seem to still favour plastic bottles for their milk and without a mass marketing campaign or the dairy community committing to cease using the bottles this is unlikely to change. However despite popularity and usability of the bottles, there is a drive from governments to cut down landfill waste which helps the industry look to more environmentally friendly materials to create the bottles from. Surely technology can create a bottle which degrades naturally and quicker than the current 500 years?
If such a material was developed in pouch form, gallons of milk could be sold in individual servings connected together. When you want one, tear if off the ream and stick straw in it! Drink it like a juice box, toss it like a banana peel. Easy to drink on the go!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
HOW CAN WE HELP?
Here at Tilt we are Innovators. In our product innovation workshop we discuss our own formula for success.
We have worked with many companies to help to design and brand products such as Kwik Trip’s Kwikade and Calvert Street Cellars wine range. If you need help with branding your product whether it is an established name in need of a revamp or a brand new range – get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
