World’s first recycled content milk bottle sustains its winning streak - 27 May 2008

A UK project that created the world’s first recycled HDPE (rHDPE) milk bottle has won the coveted WorldStar Sustainability Award – in recognition of ‘extraordinary achievements in sustainable packaging’. Announced by the World Packaging Organisation at a ceremony in Ghana on 21st May, the award is the latest in a string of awards for the revolutionary bottle.

The aim of the project, which was developed through collaboration between Dairy Crest, Marks & Spencer, Nampak, Nextek and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), was to develop a cost-effective process to produce food-contact approved HDPE from post-consumer recycled plastic. As a result, world-class manufacturing and recycling processes have been established and all Marks and Spencer organic milk is now packaged in plastic bottles with 10% recycled content.

The project is one of only two in the world to win the WorldStar Sustainability Award, which is the latest in a series of awards recognising the innovation and environmental attributes of the rHDPE milk bottle. It previously won a Worldstar Award in the beverage category, the gold and bronze awards at the prestigious Starpak packaging awards (the gold being a prerequisite for the Worldstar awards submission), as well as Best Project related to Waste and Recycling in the Edie Environmental awards. It also scooped the honours at the Plastics Industry and IGD awards.

James Crick, Business Development Director at Nampak comments: “Winning the WorldStar Sustainability Award is a fantastic accolade for this project. The challenge for all those involved in packaging is to develop products that meet the environmental demands of the modern marketplace, while still remaining fit for purpose. The recycled content HDPE bottle is the ideal solution; optimising packaging without compromising the consumers’ needs.”

James Tunney, Marketing Manager at Dairy Crest, said: "Being able to deliver such an important advancement in packaging for the UK is completely in line with Dairy Crest's forward thinking strategy and we are delighted to have had all the team's hard work recognised by the Worldstar awards. Our consumer's are at the heart of Dairy Crest's business and they are telling us they want us to help them find environmentally beneficial solutions that are easily adoptable into everyday household use. This project is a prime example of an industry working together to achieve that."

Dr Mark Caul, Senior Packaging Technologist at Marks & Spencer, comments: “M&S are delighted to have been involved in this important and innovative work. The use of a food grade post consumer waste recycled content material is an example of technical innovation, but more importantly it is an example of where working in partnership we can create end markets for recycled materials, thereby driving increased recycling in the UK. We look forward to being able to expand the use of recycled material across all our milk bottles, which we will do when material becomes available. To be recognised for the work by winning a sustainability award is a fantastic achievement which we are proud to be part of.”

Edward Kosior, Managing Director at Nextek, said: “This award also emphasises the achievement of a considerably difficult technical task with extraordinary safety factors and high levels of production reliability. It has been described as “doing the un-doable” and indeed we are extremely pleased that Britain is taking a leading position internationally as provider of front line science and engineering in the recycling of plastics.”

Dr Paul Davidson, Plastics Technology Manager at WRAP, comments: “WRAP is absolutely delighted that this project has received international recognition through WorldStar. This award is a testament to the skills and dedication of the teams who've developed a sustainable and viable process to close the loop and recycle post-consumer plastic back into food packaging. This has been an important step towards helping people to recycle more things more easily more often."