Asda to move to clear plastic milk caps

In partnership with the UK’s largest dairy producer Arla, the switch forms part of Asda’s commitment to “reducing landfill waste”.

Asda explained that “unlike the previous green, blue and red caps”  the switch to natural-coloured caps with 30% recycled content means that they can be easily recycled back into food grade packaging.

The change comes into effect from June 2023 and the supermarket has stated that customers will still easily be able to differentiate the different types of milk due to the different colour labels.

Jayne Paramor, strategic technical manager at the resources charity WRAP, said: “Clear, colourless plastics have much higher demand as recycled material, so removing pigments will help to produce valuable recycled plastics and build end markets for these reprocessed materials, ensuring that they find a second life as new products, including new milk bottles and lids.

“This small but impactful change is helping to make the UK’s milk bottles – which are already widely recycled into new milk bottles and a fantastic example of the circular economy for plastics in action – even more recyclable.  An exemplary step in developing a circular economy for plastics.”

Caps

The supermarket believes that the move will enable 207 million plastic milk caps to be recycled and turned into new milk bottles as there will be less colour contamination in the plastic allowing for more of the material to be recycled.

Asda’s lead packaging strategy and innovation added: “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 our products by 2025.”