Arla Increased Recyclability With Introduction Of Clear Milk Caps

Arla, the UK’s largest dairy cooperative, has been working with its private label milk customers and has today announced that it will transition to clear milk caps from this month.  

Arla’s coloured milk caps are recyclable, but currently the coloured caps cannot be recycled back into food grade packaging. The introduction of clear caps will enable the retention of the material for reuse within the food sector, further enabling the circular packaging economy. The clear caps will also be made with at least 30% recycled material (rHDPE), mirroring the 30% recycled content of the bottle. 

Packaging plays a key role in protecting the quality and freshness of milk products, and Arla is striving towards having 100% recyclable packaging across its entire branded product range by 2025 and using 0% fossil fuel based plastic by 2030.  

Catriona Mantle, Head of Milk, Organic and Yogurt at Arla, said: “As the UK’s largest dairy cooperative, we are committed to our climate journey at Arla and are focussed on reducing emissions throughout production, transport and logistics, packaging, and on farm. We are continuously exploring new ways to reduce our climate impact from our packaging material and are pleased to confirm we will be introducing clear caps across our milk portfolio from early June 2023, which will see nearly 1,000 tonnes of food grade plastic being retained in the circular system. Whilst our coloured caps are already recyclable and made of 30% recycled material (rHDPE), the switch to clear caps means the caps can be easily recycled back into food grade packaging.”