Coloured caps on milk cartons will soon be a thing of the past at Waitrose as the supermarket tests out using clear ones instead.
For years milk bottles and cartons had coloured tops to let consumers know the fat content.
Gold tops are full cream, blue tops mean whole milk, green caps indicate semi-skimmed milk and red tops are for skimmed milk.
These caps were made of foil on traditional glass milk bottles and plastic on plastic ones.
But the issue is that these coloured lids cannot be recycled easily.
Now Waitrose has teamed up with food firm Muller for a trial of clear milk bottle caps.
The supermarket will sell all Muller products with recycleable, see-through lids.
The firms think this could increase the amount of recyclable food-grade plastic by 1,560 tonnes a year - the same as 123 double-decker buses.
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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 packaging innovation lead Karen Graley said: “As food businesses, we need to do more to protect our planet from unnecessary plastic waste so we’re delighted to be involved in this trial.”
But 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.
It believes the move will stop millions of pints of its own-brand milk from being thrown away every year.
Recycling charity Wrap says Morrisons is the first supermarket to announce the move.
Milk is the third most wasted food in the UK and the retailer estimates customers throw out millions of pints each year while adhering to the advisory timeframe
Semi-skimmed is Brits' favourite milk - but a study has revealed that drinking skimmed milk instead can add 4.5 years onto your life .
Researchers from Brigham Young University carried out the study, which found a link between milk fat and aging.
Dr Larry Tucker, who led the study, said: "If you're going to drink high-fat milk, you should be aware that doing so is predictive of or related to some significant consequences."
The study involved 5,834 participants, including those who drank whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk.
During the study, the researchers analysed the participants’ telomeres - the end caps of human chromosomes that are known to correlate with age.
The older we get, the shorter our telomeres get.
The analysis revealed that the more high-fat milk the participants drank the shorter their telomeres were.
In fact, for every 1% increase in milk fat consumed, telomeres were 69 base pairs shorter, which translates to more than four years of additional ageing.
