New Zealand-based milk producer Lewis Road Creamery has moved to 100 per cent recycled PET bottles from Pact Group subsidiary Alto Packaging.
From August 27, Lewis Road’s 750ml and 1.5-litre bottles for both white and flavoured milk will switch to rPET, with the transition expected to be completed by 17 September.
“Pact is proud to have designed and manufactured these bottles,” said Malcolm Bundey, managing director and CEO of Pact Group. “We are excited to be in partnership with Lewis Road and part of their journey to become New Zealand’s first milk producer to switch to using entirely recycled materials for these two products.”
According to Bundey, sustainability is central to Pact Group’s vision. “We are embracing the drive toward a circular economy for plastics because it helps demonstrate our overarching commitment to sustainable materials management,” he said.
Lewis Road is the first milk producer to sign the New Zealand Packaging Declaration, committing to 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025.
Peter Cullinane, founder of Lewis Road, says moving to rPET is an important step towards that goal. “We know the dairy industry uses a lot of plastic and we want to take responsibility for our share of that,” he said.
“We want to move quickly and do something now, so changing to a recycled plastic that can be recycled again and again is our first step. We are grateful to the team at Alto who were able to provide us a solution to enable us to close the recycling loop.”
