Nampak ties with Dairy Crest on lightweight milk bottles

Innovations controller Richard Pryor said there were "considerable barriers" to moving to a lighter bottle, but the plan was to explore "consumer acceptance, ergonomic grips, ease of opening as well as production, filling and transport trials".

"We know consumers need a handle on the large four-pint milk bottles, but this project is to understand just how much of a necessity handles are on smaller bottles," he said.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), which is supporting the initiative, said this was "the first phase of a much larger project with the dairy industry".

The results of the trial are expected by the summer. Wrap hopes that, if successful, it will provide a new lightweighting best in class for the sector, saving 5,000 tonnes of waste packaging.

The UK milk industry sells around six billion litres of milk a year, generating between 130,000 and 150,000 tonnes of packaging waste.

Click here for more information on Wrap's work with milk bottles.

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