Congratulations to Fair Cape Dairies for winning the PETCO Recycling Partnership Gamechanger Award 2019!
Polypet is proud to have been part of the value chain partnership that supported Fair Cape Dairies in achieving this fully recyclable milk packaging with little to no impact on product quality.
Adding white masterbatch to a clear PET plastic milk bottle has traditionally been undertaken to increase the milk’s shelf life, as the white was used to block UV light from damaging the milk.
Unfortunately solid (opaque), white PET bottles are not recycled in South Africa so they all end up in landfill or as litter in our environment because they have no value for waste reclaimers to bother collecting them. As soon as Fair Cape Dairies was alerted to this through a consumer letter, they embarked on an 18-month intensive research project with experts and academics to find a way to keep the shelf life constant in a PET bottle without the need for white masterbatch.
Today their clear PET milk bottle is widely recycled and the milk inside delivers the same high quality and shelf life as before. The PET bottles are recycled into new bottles, making it an outstanding case study for circular economy.