Bright Dairy Recycles 3.07 Million Milk Cartons in Three Years Across 72 Chinese Cities

At this year's Flower Expo, a bench billed as "Shanghai's longest flower-viewing bench" — 156 metres in total and 78 metres on one side — became an online hit, drawing many exhibition visitors who came to take photos.

The bench is made from recovered milk cartons. It uses 5.027 million recycled Tetra Pak packages and a full 52 tonnes of milk cartons, making it the largest eco-friendly bench made from recycled milk cartons in the country.

In fact, it is just one snapshot of Shanghai's milk carton recycling results. Since 2019, with support from the Greening and City Appearance Administration, Bright Dairy has launched a citywide green campaign to recycle milk cartons.

The 5th, 15th and 25th of each month were designated as "Milk Carton Recycling Day." Citizens who collect 10 milk cartons of any brand can redeem them free of charge for one Youbei fresh milk supplied through Bright Dairy's Suixinding.

By the end of 2019, the campaign had entered 2,015 community points in Shanghai, achieving full coverage of all districts. It had held more than 23,000 events cumulatively and exchanged more than 1.23 million milk cartons. In 2020, due to the pandemic, Shanghai suspended the campaign.

On June 5, 2020, Bright Dairy restarted the campaign, first piloting in five cities — Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Jinan and Beijing — before gradually expanding nationwide. By the end of 2020, it had entered 3,005 communities in 34 cities across the country. That year, more than 36,000 events were carried out and more than 620,000 milk cartons were recycled.

In 2021, with pandemic prevention becoming routine, Bright Dairy upgraded the campaign to better convey green environmental strength, optimizing the redemption process and enriching redemption options, and took the lead in piloting the "milk carton recycling 2.0" era in Shanghai. First, it broadened recycling channels into three methods: scheduled door-to-door collection by milk delivery staff, collection via milk carton recycling bins, and collection at community recycling points. Second, it upgraded and enriched redemption products, selecting dozens of classic and practical items under Bright Food Group for citizens to redeem as needed.

From the beginning of 2021 to September 15, over a full three years, the campaign had covered 3,493 communities in 72 cities nationwide, carried out more than 29,000 events cumulatively, and recycled more than 1.22 million milk cartons. The three-year national total exceeded 3.07 million milk cartons.

Comparative data analysis shows that Shanghai, as a "model" city for waste-sorting pilots, has the strongest public awareness of waste sorting, the largest milk carton recycling volume, and the most active participation in the campaign.

Experts point out that Bright Dairy has successfully replicated and promoted the Shanghai model and Shanghai experience to other pilot cities nationwide, playing a demonstrative and leading role and helping more and more citizens establish and cultivate waste-sorting awareness and habits. Since the campaign began, it has saved nearly 20 tonnes of paper and 100 tonnes of wood, protecting 142 large trees.

It is reported that the milk carton recycling campaign will be carried out unswervingly and developed into a public welfare brand project, with plans to cover 4,000 communities nationwide this year. At the same time, Bright Dairy will explore redemption models that better meet pandemic prevention requirements, are more convenient and faster, and better fit citizens' needs, continuously improving the campaign's effectiveness.

Bright Dairy is actively exploring follow-up work for milk carton recycling. It will also open display corners or theme parks for eco-friendly recycled milk carton products and donate such products, using green power to welcome a bright environmental future.

Source: China Packaging Network (pack.cn); original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378316.html