A boutique central Victorian dairy processor has created a product aimed at changing the way cafes across Australia dispose of plastic milk bottles.
Inglenook Dairy, Dunnstown, is set to roll out the Milk Stream, tried and tested in the last six months, to cafes across the country, expected to slash recyclable waste by more than half.
The Milk Stream replaces two-litre plastic milk bottles with 10-litre milk bladders, reducing the need for excess plastics and designed to improve efficiency.
Inglenook Dairy director Troy Peterken said he invented the product after looking at ways to reduce plastic waste through his milk processing factory.
"We were looking at putting milk in glass to curb the amount of plastic we use but then we looked at the bigger picture and that would've only covered about two per cent of our market through retail sales," Mr Peterken said.
"We looked at who our major consumer market was and that's cafes which is about 70 per cent of the business so for us to have a major impact in plastic bottle to landfill reduction, we decided to target that."
The 10-litre bladders weigh 48 grams when empty, six grams more than a two-litre plastic milk bottle.
"Some cafes in Ballarat and the surrounding area can use up to 60 two-litre plastic milk bottles a day," director Troy Peterken said.
"The bladder itself and the shear volume of it is what we're proud of because you can scrunch it up in hand so it reduces the mass you're putting into your skip."
Mr Peterken said the Milk Stream could be retrofitted to standard cafe fridges and would include a font, used to dispense the milk from the bladders below.
"The cafe that trialed it loaded four bladders of 40 litres and that lasts them a full day so they're actually saving money and being more efficient," he said.
Waste reduction
The bladders are expected to reduce the dairy processors recycling waste by up to 75 per cent with a five-year plan in the pipeline to consider ways to recycle the bladders for their original purpose.
"It's going to shake up the industry because we're the only milk processor that's decided to change the way it operates to reduce its waste through the use of plastic milk bottles," Mr Peterken.
"I think it's going to force some industry change about how dairy handles its waste."
Inglenook officially launched the product on Sunday and Mr Peterken said nine cafes had already expressed interest in trialling the Milk Stream.
"If we look at the cafe in Ballarat, they used to get three skip bins of waste taken away a week but now since they've changed over to Milk Stream it's down to one-and-a-half bins and still reducing," Mr Peterken said.
Boosts efficiency, cuts cost: cafe
Drive Cafe manager Jarrah Staley, Ballarat, has trialed the Milk Stream for more than two months and said the product had streamlined the cafe's processes and reduced recycling waste by a third.
"The environmental benefits are probably the biggest reasons we went with it because it reduces plastic use by a ridiculous amount," Mr Staley said.
"In term of practical service, it's increased our efficiency and cleanliness because there's certainly not as many spillages or splashes so it increases consistency in our product overall."
On a weekly basis, the cafe uses about 320 litres of milk and prior to the Milk Stream consumed 160 plastic milk bottles a week.
"We're paying the same amount for milk with the bladders as we were with the bottles," Mr Staley said.
"But the cost saving comes in our rubbish removal service because we're only having our recycling bin taken away twice a week instead of three times a week."