Tesco rolls out clear milk bottle caps to aid recycling

Tesco is introducing clear caps to 425 million of its own brand milk bottles per year to make them easier to recycle.

Red, blue and green coloured caps are being swapped for clear alternatives, and customers will begin to see the change in stores over the coming weeks.

As it stands, coloured plastic needs to be processed separately from clear packaging.

The move means 3,900 extra tonnes of recycled plastic per year can go back into making new bottles, according to the grocer.


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The supermarket explained the clear caps can be recycled back into milk bottles.

Customers are encouraged to replace the clear lids back on milk bottles before recycling them to ensure they are not lost or discarded.

The move will be implemented across all Tesco stores and across four pint, two pint and one pint bottles.

The supermarket said that whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk will still remain clearly identifiable through the coloured block labels around the main bottle.

Tesco category director for dairy James Waddy said: “Ensuring our packaging is as sustainable as possible is really important to us, and customer feedback on our trial of these new clear milk caps has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We will continue to look for ways to improve the packaging of our products, and make it even easier for customers to recycle at home”.

In May, Tesco revealed it had removed more than two billion pieces of plastic in the UK since 2019, as it worked to reduce plastic usage under its 4Rs packaging strategy.

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