Inventor creates more easily recyclable ‘bag-in-jug’ milk carton

A Brazilian student has invented a bag-in-jug milk packaging concept that has been designed to help consumers recycle correctly.

University of São Paulo student Danilo Saito, 23, has developed the Re-Pack carton to address the problems of similar packaging formats for milk that exist in markets such as Canada and the UK.

The packaging innovation features two constituent parts: an outer jug made from cardboard, plus an inner bio-plastic bag which contains the milk. Unlike regular cartons, which need to have their parts separated before recycling, and then the actual carton processed with lots of water to reclaim its materials, Saito’s design is pre-separated. After consumption, the separate parts can be placed into the appropriate recycling receptacles for collection, making it easier and more convenient for consumers.

In Canada, consumers can buy multipacks containing several bags, and then drop them into a jug and pierce the bag to use it. But the handling of the bags themselves, Saito said, is not particularly easy, the bag can fall out of the jug, or the consumer can easily cut the bag in the wrong place and have to put up with a leaking bag until it is empty.

The Re-Pack packaging locks the bag into the carton using a folding closure and the plastic inner comes with a resealable screw-top nozzle made from recyclable corn-derived bioplastic.

Danilo Saito said: “I’m passionate about design and its positive impacts… on society. I’m interested in product design, but I’m always working to be a multidisciplinary designer, working in all instances of a project – from planning, strategy and research to brainstorming, creation and development, whether a product, service or graphic. I’m always looking to work in a collaborative way, to stimulate different people to come together to search for a solution and trying to get the best of each one.”

He said that the new 24oz bags are “easier to stock and use a cardboard package”.

Saito continued: “We wanted to design a solution in which the replacement of packages would be easy and practical to execute, with a more convenient usage. Nowadays more people are living alone or with smaller families and living in smaller apartments. Thus they are stocking fewer products in their homes and going more often to the market.

“Recycling in Brazil is growing up, but it’s still not satisfactory. In 2012 only 29% of packaging was recycled in Brazil, but it’s a number that is growing during the years – in 2004, only 16% was recycled.”