Milking Innovation for All It's Worth
In January, Ecologic Brands, a Northern California-based sustainable packaging developer, unveiled what it calls “a sustainable and transformative bottle for liquid products.” The bottle — which is biodegradable, compostable and recyclable — consists of an exterior shell made from old corrugated cardboard thermoformed into a rigid container. The shell holds a thin mono-polymer milk pouch that is recyclable with No. 4 plastics.
Ecologic Brands says the first customer testing its bottle is Straus Family Creamery, Marshall, Calif. Using the bottle, the dairy rolled out its milk in select Whole Foods locations in Northern California.
When I first received news about this product, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a similar product that rolled out in the UK. Back in 2008, British retailer ASDA (owned by Walmart) began offering an eco-friendly milk container called GreenBottle. According to an Aug. 14, 2008, blog entry from SustainableIsGood.com, the GreenBottle consists of an outer shell made from pulped recycled cardboard and an inner pouch made of corn-based bioplastic.
I must say — it’s about time U.S. packagers caught on! I was worried that the only milk packaging innovation we’d see in the states for years is that impossible-to-pour milk cube from Sam’s Club. You know, the one that really had children crying over spilled milk — and in the name of sustainability!
Pick a Pouch
Although the introduction of this packaging innovation in the United States has left me smiling, I’m still not sure why another UK milk packaging innovation — one that made major retail news around the same time as GreenBottle — hasn’t hit the scene in the United States yet. I’m talking, of course, about the milk pouch.
In early 2008, British retailer Waitrose began a trial run of selling milk (sourced from Welsh organic farming group Calon Wen) in plastic pouches called Eco Paks, which contained 75 percent less plastic than normal plastic milk jugs. Here’s how the concept worked: The bag fits in a special reusable jug with a lid that, when closed, pierces the pouch with a small spike, allowing the milk to be poured.
An April 2, 2008, article in the London Evening Standard reported that the trial was a success with consumers, which led Waitrose to start selling Eco Paks in dozens of its stores. Around the same time, two more British retailers — Tesco and Sainsbury’s — were toying with milk pouches.
It has been some time since the introduction of Eco Paks. And while I’ve heard that the milk pouch has existed in Canada for many years, I’m still surprised that it hasn’t been introduced here in the states.
Could it be because U.S. consumers are queasy at the notion of handling a milk package that feels like a cow’s teat? Maybe. Or could it be because consumers are afraid the pouch might explode in their face like a faulty water balloon? Possibly. Either way, I still would like to see a U.S. retailer give the milk pouch a try.
Anyone care to step forward?
