Sainsbury's milks success of eco-packaging

Supermarket giant Sainsbury's is milking the runaway success of the eco-friendly pouches that have replaced traditional plastic milk cartons, confirming today that it is moving forward with plans to roll out pouches across other product ranges.

The company also revealed it will support the new packaging by hosting a one-day giveaway of jugs to customers. Five hundred Sainsbury's stores across the UK will provide free JUGIT containers to hold milk pouches this Saturday, as part of the latest phase in the supermarket's grand plan to reduce packaging by a third by 2015.

Sainsbury's predicts that switching to bags could save up to 1.4 million kg of packaging every year, while JUGIT claims its carton-free system reduces packaging waste by up to 75 per cent compared with normal two-pint milk bottles.

The initiative is intended to build on the unexpected success of the milk pouches, which have seen sales climb to 110,000 per week, twice as many as the company originally predicted.

The pouches are currently only available for customers buying two pints of semi-skimmed milk, however a spokesman for Sainsbury's told BusinessGreen.com that the supermarket is reviewing other milk ranges and hopes to start introducing more options for customers later in the year.

Sainsbury’s success with the pouches is in stark contrast to that of Waitrose, which last month withdrew the bags from its shelves because of poor demand.

Sainsbury's senior dairy buyer Emma Metcalf-King said she hoped the jug giveaway would encourage more customers to take up the milk pouch initiative, which has already proven popular in countries such as Canada, Poland, South Africa and China.

"When we first launched milk bags in store, we gave one to every colleague to try," she said. "Their feedback was so positive that we wanted to do something to encourage our customers to give it a whirl too."