Supermarket chain Waitrose is ditching colour coded milk bottle tops in favour of easy to recycle clear ones.
The move - a UK first - comes after a successful trial with shoppers who were unphased by the loss of instantly recognisable blue, green and red plastic caps on whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk.
Following the pilot scheme in April, the new tops which make the plastic bottles 100% recyclable will first appear across the Essential milk range which accounts for 44% of milk sales
The rest of the chain’s own label milk bottles will follow suit across all 331 stores next year.
Waitrose said more colourful labels would help shoppers easily distinguish the different varieties at a glance.
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Lisa Oaten, milk buyer at Waitrose, added: “Milk is one of our best-selling products, so to be able to bring this packaging improvement to an everyday essential across all of our stores is fantastic.
“Customer feedback during the trial has been overwhelmingly positive and this national rollout will help us achieve our goal of making more of the plastic we use circular and fit to be repurposed time and time again.”
The new look bottles are being produced in partnership with dairy giant Muller which found that while half of shoppers look for the cap colour to buy their milk, the other 50% check the label or head for the usual spot in the chiller cabinet.
Muller Milk & Ingredients commercial director Liam McNamara said: “Everyone is thinking more about what they buy, the nutritional benefits, the value it represents and the packaging used.
“We want to be the partner of choice for our customers, we recognise the commitments they are making in this area, and following a successful trial period, then this is another step we can offer.
“As the first dairy company in the UK to trial clear caps on fresh milk, we are working hard to innovate and lead in issues that are not only important for customers, but for consumers too.”
Waitrose is not the only supermarket shaking up how it sells milk.
In January, The Mirror reported that supermarket chain Morrisons is to scrap "use by" dates on its own-brand milk in a bid to reduce food waste.
The retailer is instead putting "best before" dates on 90% of its own-brand milk and will encourage customers to use a sniff test to check quality.
