News Published on 21 Jan
Arla Foods to take its packaging ‘Closer to Nature’
Filed by Geoff Platt
Arla Foods is planning to take a step closer to having carbon-zero packaging by piloting HDPE derived from sugar cane in its polybottles.
The so-called ‘green’ polyethylene, which would be sourced from a supplier in Brazil, is derived by extracting ethanol from sugar cane to produce ethylene that in turn is converted into polyethylene.
The move would be directly in line with Arla’s sustainable packaging agenda, which last year saw the company launch the UK’s lightest two‐pint polybottles for milk.
In addition, all Arla’s polybottles will contain 10% rHDPE by the end of January 2010, in line with the Defra Milk Roadmap target.
“Our vision is to produce a carbon-zero bottle,” said Richard Taplin, Arla’s packaging manager. “Based on the inclusion of 10% rHDPE, we estimate that it will take an additional circa 48% ‘green’ HDPE to make the bottle carbon-zero.
“Incorporating ‘green’ HDPE into our polybottles fits perfectly with our ‘Closer to Nature’ environmental ambition to have the least environmental impact possible. It would also significantly contribute to our overall target of a 25% carbon reduction in packaging by 2012.”
Source: Arla Foods