Nampak reveal milk bottle innovation

Arguably the most bought product from the grocery category - milk - is having a packaging transformation, in light of making production and sale of the product more environmentally friendly.

The leading packaging manufacturer behind the innovation is Nampak. The new milk bottle has around 15% less plastic than the former packaging, meaning a reduced carbon footprint of approximately 12%.

The new bottle design has been given its own name - Ifini - and takes most of its material-savings from not filling the bottle corners with as much plastic as the previous design.

This innovation comes as part of an array of packing innovations looking at tackling the recurring environmental issue of the plastic milk bottle.

Sainsbury's are no stranger to developments in milk packaging, having introduced the 'milk bag' in late 2010.

Nampak believe the new bottle is likely to be more successful than it's rival counterparts due to it still being a plastic bottle. Most previous innovations in this category are complete alternatives that have moved away from the plastic bottle theme, whilst the new Nampak bottle is literally just less materials and therefore a lower carbon footprint.

Nampak's customer based consists of some of the major milk and dairy producers, including Yeo Valley, Arla foods, Dairy Crest and Robert Wiseman Dairies. Most of the Nampak customers are impressed with the new packaging, although none have confirmed as to whether they will adopt. Dairy Crest, however, revealed it is running a trial of the new bottle, testing it thoroughly.

A selling point Nampak may choose to take advantage of is the reduced cost of the bottle - as it involves less materials, it is more than likely going to be sold to the dairy producers at a reduced rate. Therefore, the dairy companies may be attracted to the prospect of lower packaging costs, especially given the recent hike in oil and fuel prices.

Should the dairy companies choose to roll out the new bottle, perhaps other food manufacturers and food processors will follow suit and use the lower plastic and lower carbon footprint packaging for their products.