Müller pledges to remove all plastic straws from its products

Müller has committed to removing all plastic straws from its products by 2020 as it continues efforts to reduce its plastic use.

Over the last 18 months, the company has developed a fully recyclable paper straw in partnership with Tetra Pak. 

Last year, Müller was contacted by schoolchildren from Sunnyside Primary School in Glasgow, who expressed concerns about the environmental impact of plastic straws.

The school has since agreed to work with the company to trial its new paper straw, which is attached to its school milk cartons.

“We’ve already removed 10,000 tonnes of plastic from our packaging in recent years, our fresh milk bottles are 100% recyclable, and they contain up to 40% recycled material,” said Gareth Budd, head of customer innovation at Müller Milk & Ingredients.

“But to ensure that future generations continue to benefit from the goodness of fresh school milk, we recognise the need to continually innovate and update our packaging.

“The pupils at Sunnyside Primary School have a real passion for positive change, and were an inspiration. We thank them for their valued participation in the trial, and now we’re fully focused on removing all plastic straws from our school milk by the end of 2020.”

Müller is currently carrying out trials of the new paper straws at its Bridgwater site in England. If successful, Bridgwater will begin the permanent roll out of the paper straws by the end of March 2020.

Tetra Pak announced in July it had developed the new paper straw that can be used with its cartons.

Charles Brand, president of Tetra Pak Europe and Central Asia, said: “It is important that we launch a sustainable paper straw that is fully functional, recyclable and does not compromise on food safety. We also recognise our responsibility to provide sustainable solutions to our customers that will enable us, as a collective, to move towards a low carbon circular economy.

“We believe this trial is a fantastic way to truly test and receive feedback, and it’s great to receive such a positive reaction to using the new paper straws. We are happy to work together with Müller to roll out paper straws and help them realise their commitment to drive down plastic.”