Brownes Dairy, an iconic West Australian brand, has taken its latest step to lead sustainability in the dairy industry with the change to more environmentally-friendly cartons.

Brownes Dairy’s farm fresh white milk will now come in environmentally-friendly craft board from Tetra Pak, which are made from renewable plant-based materials.

The eye-catching packaging is a natural brown colour which requires less processing. These cartons are also lighter than previous cartons, meaning less material is used to pack the same amount of milk.

“Brownes Dairy scoured the planet in search of the most sustainable milk carton packaging on the market. We were the first to make the switch to materials derived from sugar cane several years ago, but now our consumers can see that the carton is made from a renewable source that has a lower carbon impact to climate change,” Brownes CEO Natalie Sarich-Dayton said.

By switching to plant-based polyethylene material in the cartons, the carbon footprint of this packaging is reduced by 16 per cent over regular milk cartons. The plant-based cartons also removes reliance on fossil-based polyethylene in the packages.

“Brownes Dairy wants to ensure that the next generation of Australian families not only get to enjoy the goodness and freshness of our products, but they can do so knowing we use the most sustainable milk cartons available.”

Tetra Pak managing director Andrew Pooch said there is a lot of focus on recycling at the moment, but in reality over 99 per cent of packaging impacts to climate change has occurred before products hit the shelves.

“To make a real contribution to reducing the impact on climate change then whole life cycle of consumer product needs to be considered; including the source, manufacturing and transport,” Pooch said.

This carton is 100 per cent recyclable, and Tetra Pak is actively working with Government and other partners to improve on shore recycling capability. In partnership with the NSW Government and Closed Loop, Tetra has invested in a recycling facility that turns everyday household waste such as milk cartons into building products.

Opening in late 2022, this is the first of its many new initiatives to improve Australia’s recycling capability on shore.

As part of its sustainability focus, Brownes has also partnered with Trillion Trees Australia, an environmental restoration not-for-profit organisation, to contribute to the Trillion Trees Challenge of planting a trillion trees to help address climate change through ecosystem restoration.

Trillion Trees Australia CEO, Denise True said the organisation was delighted that an iconic Australian brand such as Brownes was actively doing its part in creating a more sustainable future.

“As Australia’s oldest dairy company, it is fantastic to work with Brownes on their journey towards a sustainable responsible organisation,” True said.