Milk & More expands refillable bottle initiative

To date, 80% of Milk & More’s products come in zero-waste packaging

In January this year, Milk & More partnered with reusable packaging operation Again to reuse up to an additional three million items of packaging a year, across a range of six products that otherwise would have only been used once.

The refill process was successfully trialed by Milk & More, Again, and Tom Parker Creamery. Instead of being recycled, the empty bottles were collected from consumers’ doorsteps and sent to Again for cleaning. Afterward, they were returned to Tom Parker Creamery for refilling before being delivered to customers’ doorsteps again.

The glass bottle refillable range offered by Milk & More is expanding by an additional 25 product lines, bringing the total refillable offer to 77 lines. New brands joining this initiative include Belu Water, Wenlock Spring, The Village Press, Tom Parker Creamery, River Cottage, Belvoir Farm, and Brown Cow Organics.

Milk & More’s chief executive officer Patrick Müller said: “Figures show that when reusable glass bottles are reused at least five times, the overall CO2 emissions of the product life cycle is reduced by over a third compared to single-use glass bottles. Our glass milk bottles are reused on average 28 times, delivered, and collected by one of the largest electric delivery fleets in the country, helping our customers to reduce their carbon footprint, and 80% of everything we sell is delivered in zero waste packaging.”

Again uses cleaning facilities known as CleanCells that are located at logistics hubs to save transport emissions and costs. The facilities are designed to process 250,000 units of packaging per month. Once cleaned, each bottle is given a unique identification code so Again can track how many times it gets reused and how much CO2 is saved by the process compared to single-use alternatives.

To date, 80% of Milk & More’s products come in zero-waste packaging and 97% of all volume of products sold in packaging is classed as either reusable, recyclable, or compostable.

Earlier this year, Milk & More partnered with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) to trial the delivery and collection of one-litre Coca-Cola Zero Sugar refillable glass bottles. The bottles can be washed and refilled up to 20 times, resulting in an 82% smaller carbon footprint compared to single-use glass bottles.