Milk & More delivers daily essentials to more than 500,000 homes in Britain, via a network of 57 local fulfillment centers.
The country’s largest doorstep delivery service is rolling out 160 new electric delivery vehicles, taking its fleet to just over 500 by May 2019.
The new vehicles, powered by rechargeable batteries and with a range of up to 125 miles, represent the latest step in what the business says is its wider commitment to reducing its environmental footprint.
With the introduction of the new electric vehicles, the fleet will travel more than 14m miles a year, saving 3.4m liters of diesel a year compared with its previous diesel delivery vehicles. Noise reduction is also a benefit, as many of the company’s milkmen and milkwomen deliver to customers’ homes by 7am.
Other environmental measures
Milk & More now sells the vast majority of its milk in one-pint glass bottles. The business has also replaced the 1.75m plastic bags it uses every year with paper bags and has a sustainable option for wet weather mornings. Meanwhile, the business is working on a project to improve the average number of times its glass milk bottles are reused from 25 to 30.
In addition, changes to the Milk & More product range, which includes 200 items of food, drink, as well as a new range of eco-friendly household products, means that 97% of all the volume sold is in packaging that fits the circular economy - packaging that is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
Andrew Kendall, deputy CEO for Milk & More, said, “We are continually looking to reduce our environmental footprint, so customers can be assured that they are buying into a business that is fully committed to a sustainable circular economy.”
This month Milk & More also launched a new air-freight free and eco-friendly range of organic fruit and vegetables, with compostable cotton packaging that is part of its overall strategy to remove unnecessary plastic.
Müller UK & Ireland is wholly owned by Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller, which employs 24,000 people throughout Europe. In the UK, Müller develops, manufactures and markets branded and private label dairy products made with milk from more than 1,650 British farmers.