Tesco major change to milk caps in supermarkets announced

The supermarket giant is removing coloured milk caps, introducing clear alternatives in a bid to make recycling easier.

The blue, red and green milk caps are being ditched by Tesco, a change that will affect around 425 million bottles of milk every year.

Customers are encouraged to squash or crush empty bottles, replacing the original lid before recycling to ensure it is not lost or discarded.

Tesco shoppers will notice the change to own brand milk products in supermarkets soon (Image: Tesco)

Coloured plastic currently needs to be processed separately from clear packaging, and so this simple change means that each year 3,900 extra tonnes of recycled plastic can go back into making new bottles, a process which can be repeated every time a customer recycles it.

The move will be seen in all Tesco stores, and across 4 pint, 2 pint and 1 pint bottles of milk. Different variants of milk – whole, semi-skimmed and skimmed – will still be clearly identifiable, thanks to coloured block labels around the main bottle.

James Waddy, Category Director for Dairy at Tesco, 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.”

It comes after Tesco began to scrap their 6 pint milk in a bid to reduce waste.

A spokesman said: “We are phasing out six-pint bottles of milk to reduce wastage, but our four-pint bottles provide the same great value per pint, especially as we have reduced milk prices twice in recent weeks.”