Aldi scraps colour milk caps in all stores in bid to make containers easier to recycle

The cap colours have traditionally told consumers what type of milk they were purchasing, with red indicating skimmed milk, green for semi-skimmed and blue for full-fat milk.

Aldi say that the coloured caps can be more difficult for some processors to recycle, so after trialling new clear caps in some stores they’re now rolling this out nationwide.

The budget supermarket, which was recently announced as the fourth largest in the UK overtaking Morrisons, says that in partnership with its UK milk suppliers the new milk caps have started to appear in stores this week.

The roll out will mean a further 200 tonnes of High-Density Polythene (rHDPE) in the bottle tops can be reused to create new milk bottles.  

Customers will still be able to distinguish the milk type via the labels, which will remain red, green or blue depending on the fat content.

Luke Emery, Plastics and Packaging Director at Aldi, said: “At Aldi we are constantly reviewing ways to become a more sustainable supermarket and cut down on single-use plastic. That means working closely with our suppliers to find solutions that will make a real difference.

“Improving the recyclability of packaging on an everyday product like milk has been well received by our customers, who are increasingly aware of products being environmentally friendly.”

(Lead image: Aldi)