Morrisons becomes one of the first supermarkets to sell its own brand fresh milk in carbon neutral cartons

Nine types of Morrisons fresh milk are being sold in Tetra Pak cartons to save an initial 100 tonnes of plastic a year.

Morrisons has also moved the majority of its own label fresh juice - from plastic bottles to cartons - to remove another 678 tonnes of plastic per annum.

Fresh milk is currently one of the single biggest users of plastic packaging within UK supermarkets, accounting for approximately 10 per cent of all plastic used.

The Tetra Pak cartons have been certified by the Carbon Trust as Carbon Neutral. They are recyclable at kerbside in most UK regions and at recycling banks across the country.

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, said: “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.”

Morrisons has committed to a 50 per cent reduction across its own brand primary plastic packaging by 2025. Since 2017 Morrisons has reduced its own brand plastic packaging by more than 8,000 tonnes a year and replaced another 7,000 tonnes so that it is fully recyclable.

The move to milk cartons is the latest initiative from Morrisons to remove plastic packaging from its stores and follows other commitments. Morrisons was the first supermarket to introduce paper carrier bags at checkouts in 2019 and launched plastic-free bananas last year. Morrisons is also the only UK supermarket to own its own recycling plant in Fife which will reprocess hard-to-recycle soft plastic.