Marks & Spencer recycles bottles into consumer-grade packaging

Following a pilot of 60,000 bottles, Marks & Spencer (M&S) is now using 10-percent recycled HDPE (high density polyethylene) in its organic-milk bottles. The move is part of the retailer’s $394 million environmentally-friendly ‘Plan A’ framework, which includes a commitment to using packaging materials from sustainable or recycled sources.

Used plastic milk bottles are sorted, flaked and washed before undergoing a ‘super clean’ recycling process. The resulting food-quality plastic or polymer is then added to virgin HDPE and made back into plastic milk bottles. M&S says it will be encouraging customers to recycle even more of their plastic milk bottles with clear, on-pack labeling.

UK households currently use over 130,000 tons of plastic milk bottles each year. To date, disposal post-use has either sent bottles to landfill or to be recycled into lower-grade products such as compost and garbage bins.

The technology—reportedly a worldwide first—was developed through a collaboration between Marks & Spencer, Dairy Crest, Nampak and WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Program). M&S and Dairy Crest initiated the process when they sought to find a way of using more recycled content in food packaging. Dairy Crest then worked with, among others, Nampak Plastics, who manufacture the bottles, and Nextek, who provided additional technical input, to develop an innovative heat treatment. Funding for the project and trial was supplied by WRAP.

The development has already been recognized by the UK packaging awards Starpack 2007. It was a finalist in the two categories ‘Best Innovation to Reduce Waste’ and ‘Best Use of Innovative Material’.

“To be part of the team that has found a way to recycle plastic back into food packaging for the first time is a fantastic result,” remarks Helene Roberts, M&S head of Packaging.

“It’s important that we all find ways of reducing our impact on the environment. As far as we are concerned, this is just the start of the process. As further recycled HDPE plastic becomes available, we aim to increase the recycled content in our plastic milk bottles and to use it across our entir