German dairy producer Müller is to trial paper straws as part of its work to reduce the use of single use plastics. Developed in partnership with Tetra Pak, the straws are made from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paperboard.

School children at Sunnyside Primary School in Glasgow, Scotland will take part in the trial of the new paper straws, which are attached to their recyclable school milk cartons. “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,” said Gareth Budd, head of customer innovation at Müller Milk and Ingredients.

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

Müller has removed 10,000 tonnes of plastics from its milk bottles since 2016 and its fresh and flavoured milk bottles are 100 per cent recyclable. Having secured appropriate supplies of recycled HDPE, up to 40 per cent of the plastic in Müller’s fresh milk bottles is made from recycled material.

Meanwhile, the dairy company has also removed a further 700 tonnes of plastics per annum by lightweighting its recyclable fresh milk bottles and milk caps.

Müller is also undertaking further trials at its Bridgwater site, using the new paper straws. If successful, Bridgwater will begin the permanent roll out of the paper straws by the end of March 2020. Müller’s other school milk producing sites would follow by the end of 2020, eliminating 48 tonnes of plastics every year.