Dairy products manufacturer Arla Foods (Leeds / UK; www.arlafoods.co.uk) is aiming to reduce the weight of its plastic milk bottles by 15-20% as part of its “Closer to Nature” environmental strategy. This will see the weight of a typical two-pint (1.14-litre) bottle decrease from 25g to 20g, and deliver an annual carbon saving of 16,000 t. Previous lightweighting initiatives by Arla for its packaging products have led to a 1,350 t reduction in plastics consumption.

Arla Foods is targeting a 34% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from its operations by 2020 and as part of this programme is to build a zero-carbon milk processing facility, located in Aylesbury / UK. It will be the world’s first billion-litre liquid milk dairy and comes at a cost of more than GBP 150m (EUR 175m). The project is currently at the design stage and Arla is investigating the best available construction techniques, advanced process technologies, renewable energy possibilities as well as next-generation packaging solutions. The dairy is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2012.