KENYA – Kenyan specialty dairy company Bio Food Products has introduced new packaging for its range of long life products, which it says have less environmental impact.
The new Bio Fresh Milk bottles are made using 30% less polyethylene terephthalate, or PET.
The company has also launched a new 2-litre Bio Fresh Milk bottle, which it says will lead to further reduction of PET per litre of milk, extending its current 1-litre products line.
It has also announced the start of a pilot PET Take Back program with supermarket chain Chandarana and Taka Taka Solutions, a Kenyan waste management and recycling company.
Bio Food will collect used bottles from PET Take Back Bins that have placed at selected Chandarana Supermarkets outlets.
The used bottles will be recycled into everyday items including brushes, brooms and other household utensils.
Bio Food’s introduction of the new packaging comes at a time many Kenyan companies are grappling with the ban on some plastic packaging by the Government last year, the effects of which are still impacting the industry.
The Government has also signaled its intention to ban plastic bottle packaging, but has not yet implemented the ban or announced a definite date to do so.
Food companies are on the look out for alternative packaging options to plastic or plastic packaging with lesser environmental impact.
Kenya joins the rest of the world where several regulatory authorities have recently placed new regulatory measures in a number of countries, including the EU, due to the negative impact of plastics on the environment.
In response, food companies continue to roll out new plastic packaging strategies to switch to recyclable or reusable plastic packaging in the next decade or so, including the likes of Coca-Cola, Nestle and 2 Sisters Group in the UK.