Coles announces big change to own brand milk – here’s what it means for you

Coles is making a big change to its own milk brand and is removing plastic seals from two and three liter milk bottles.

The seal, which acted as a second lid and was required to be removed by consumers, was originally designed to reduce the risk of spills and leaks and keep unopened milk fresh.

The change is being rolled out to hundreds of stores across Australia, where shoppers have already found new signs announcing the change on store shelves.

This means Coles milk bottles will be 100 per cent recyclable.

“Coles is always looking for ways to reduce the circulation of unnecessary plastic and while our seals were originally used to reduce instances of leaking bottles, over time the packaging design of both the bottle and cap has improved and seals are no longer necessary.” a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

“This decision to no longer require stamps on Coles milk will mean the removal of over 10,000kg of plastic from circulation when this packaging change is completed nationwide.”

Coles milk suppliers have spent the last year shifting their processing sites to make the change possible.

“While some of our suppliers have begun this transition, not all processing sites have done so, and we will work on implementing this change with each state when appropriate,” the spokesperson added.

It is one of many changes made by supermarket retailers in recent years to reduce their carbon footprint, including phasing out single-use plastic bags.

Woolworths recently replaced the standard blue cap on its milk bottles with clear ones to improve recycling.

Woolworths milk bottles do not have a plastic seal.