Arla Foods leads HDPE development in injection stretched blow moulding

Arla Foods is on the verge of becoming the world’s first dairy company to launch HDPE injection stretched blow moulded bottles for milk.

The company has been working closely with leading machinery suppliers on the technology and has initially focused on developing smaller size bottles.

Phil O’Driscoll, Arla’s packaging technologist, says injection stretch blow moulding with HPDE offers many environmental advantages over the more commonly used PET. It has a lower carbon footprint, is fully recyclable and has the potential to incorporate up to 50 per cent recycled plastic.

This development will allow Arla to harness all the benefits of the ISBM production process without the high environmental cost usually associated with PET.

Phil added that during consumer testing, the appearance of the bottles was very well received.

“We are really pushing the boundaries in terms of milk packaging innovation and this option offers consumers an attractive and environmentally friendly solution, making it ideal for added value products such as favoured milk and driving new consumers to the category. The development is ongoing and is one of many new technologies we are exploring as we seek to optimise our packaging portfolio.”

Arla Foods UK plc is home to some of the UK’s leading dairy brands including Cravendale, Lurpak and Anchor. Processing approximately two billion litres of milk a year Arla continues to be one of the UK’s leading dairy companies and a supplier of fresh liquid milk and cream to the top seven retailers.

Over 2,500 daily deliveries are made directly to stores nationwide and Arla brands can be found across the dairy category. As well as the leader of the butter, spreads and margarine sector, and a major supplier of other added value products including flavoured milk and cheese, Arla continues to build working relationships with Arla Foods Milk Partnership, a unique group of dairy farmers, which supplies around 90 per cent of Arla's total milk requirements.

Behind this leading business is a team of circa 2,800 people across the UK located at our dairies, distribution centres and head office.