Sainsbury's Launching Milk in Bag Packaging

One of the leading UK supermarket chains Sainbury's is launching milk sold in a recyclable plastic bag pouch in thirty five of its stores beginning tomorrow.

The chain expects to have the bagged milk available in as many as 500 stores within the next year.

According to published reports the alternative milk packaging is expected to reduce milk packaging waste by up to 75 percent.

Environmental advocates believe replacing all milk packaging in the UK with the bagged milk could keep 100,000 tons of plastic waste from landfills.

The milk bags are made of recyclable LDPE plastic and are designed to fit inside a reusable jug which is sold separately. Consumers open the bags with a spike that pierces the bag and forms a no-leak seal. The used milk bags can be returned to Sainbury's stores or recycled with other household plastics.

The big question is how will consumers on the whole react to the packaging?  Various forms of milk packaging are in use in Europe. 

In fact the use of bags for milk isn't entirely new they've been in use in Canada and the EU for nearly a decade.  Despite this fact they have yet to take off in terms of becoming the preferred method of milk packaging.  So this latest push from Sainbury's will be interesting to follow.

Method Moving into UK Market

San Francisco-based Method makers of greener more eco-friendly cleaning and household products is expanding into the UK, its first international market.

The company has a fully staffed office in West London and plans to follow the "start-up model" it used so successfully here in the US to grow its business Method's co-founder Adam Lowry told BusinessGreen.

The company's products are already available at major stores in the UK like John Lewis, Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's. 

"The UK consumer is so far ahead of their US counterpart when it comes to green issues that this was an obvious choice for our first international market.  We're seeing healthy growth, albeit from a low base, but the interest in green issues is definitely driving demand,"  Lowry said. 

One of Method's UK products is its "Go Naked" cleaner which is sold in a 100% recycled bottle.  Smart Planet reports from now on all bottles that are produced for Method will be made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, following the Cradle-to-Cradle design philosophy.

Method aims to make all products biodegradable and all bottles recycled and recyclable.  The company reportedly works with MBDC co-founder Michael Braungart and runs every product formula by him before beginning production.

Sainsbury's Tetra Pak FSC Certified Packaging

Swedish packaging company Tetra Pak and UK food retailer Sainbury's announced the world's first Tetra Pak certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Sainbury's is the first supermarket in the world to stock the Tetra Recart packaged with FSC-certified wood fiber.  The packaging will initially be used for Sainbury's own private label Premium Chopped Tomatoes.  The tomatoes will have a two-year shelf life in the Recart packaging.

The companies said the new packaging will reassure "Sainbury's customers that the paperboard used comes from well-managed forests and controlled sources."

Additional benefits according to Tetra Pak are the package's rectangular shape which makes it highly efficient during transportation, storage and distribution using 33% less space than a can.

Amcor Compostable Produce Packaging Debuts in UK

UK grocer Sainsbury’s and its potato packer Greenvale are the first to commercially launch Amcor NaturePlus’ heat-seal Materbi VFFS film within the fresh produce sector on their SO Organic Baby Salad Potatoes, 750g.

This launch is part of the environmental plan set out by Sainsbury’s in September 2006, where it vowed to change traditional packaging across its SO organic food lines to use more environmentally friendly compostable packaging.

The Amcor NaturePlus heat-seal Materbi film is manufactured from renewable materials and is fully compostable. The 40 micron co-extruded material is produced at Amcor’s extrusion site in Ilkeston in the UK and is then printed and converted at AF Ledbury.

The packaging film could have major implications for fresh produce and other grocery items currently packed in plastic packaging.

UK Supermarket Sainsbury's to Sell Wine In PET Plastic Bottles

A major supermarket chain in the UK will offer wine sold in recyclable #1 plastic PET bottles instead of glass as part of a trial.

Sainsbury`s said the move would cut the weight of wine packaging which in turn reduces carbon emissions.  A plastic bottle is one-eighth the weight of a regular 400g (14oz) glass bottle.

Sainsbury's will initially sell its own label New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and an Australian rose in the plastic bottles.

The move follows the introduction of PET bottles by Wolf Blass, one of Australia's biggest exporters of wine.  Its plastic bottles of wine went on sale in Canada last year and will be available in Britain in August.

The idea of using PET bottles for wine has some practical merit besides its reduced weight.  The plastic bottles are less likely to break and easier to carry and transport compared to glass versions.

Barry Dick, product technologist for beers, wines and spirits at the chain, said: "The new wine bottle looks exactly the same as a glass bottle, holds the same amount of liquid and doesn't compromise the quality of the wine in any way."

UK consumers buy around one billion bottles of wine every year, using around half-a-million tonnes of glass. Reducing the weight of wine packaging to 54g (2oz) by using plastic bottles could reduce carbon emissions by around 90,000 tonnes, according to the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), which is involved in the trial.