Dairy company Müller is planning to purchase various plastic bottle manufacturing plants in the UK to drive down plastic use.

To achieve its target of 50% by 2020, the company has decided to accelerate reduction in the use of plastic and increase the use of recycled plastic in its bottles.

Müller has already concluded the acquisition of Nampak’s bottle manufacturing plants located adjacent to its dairies at Bellshill and Manchester.

The company is also in advanced discussions to acquire Nampak’s bottle manufacturing assets next to its Foston and Severnside dairies.

The transactions are expected to complete in October this year and Autumn 2019.

Once the deal concludes, Müller is planning to further invest in Severnside bottle manufacturing plant to advance its capabilities.

Müller is already using recyclable plastic bottles for its branded and private label fresh milk products.

The company eliminated 10,000 tonnes of plastic from 2016, and 30% of plastic used in the fresh milk HDPE bottles are made from recycled material.

Müller will use its newly acquired assets to develop advanced packaging solutions through working with its customers.

Müller milk and ingredients managing director Andrew McInnes said: “With these acquisitions we are changing our operating model to gain greater control and agility to ensure that our packaging is fit-for-purpose, recyclable and evolving to meet rapidly changing customer and consumer needs.

“Ownership of packaging assets immediately adjacent to our dairies gives us a significant advantage in our sector.

“Rather than being reliant on third party manufacturers or having to purchase and transport empty packaging from remote manufacturing facilities to our dairies, we will have the ability to make milk bottles in our own plants to our specification and pass them straight to our filling lines.”

Müller Yogurts and Desserts has eliminated more than 23,000 tonnes of plastic from its packaging since 2006. The business currently uses in house, vertically integrated packaging manufacturing.

Image: Müller is increasing the use of recycled plastic in its bottles to achieve the target of 50% by 2020. Photo: courtesy of Müller UK & Ireland.