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Yeo Valley’s ‘70% Less Plastic’ Bottle: Udderly Greenwashed
Yeo Valley’s ‘70% Less Plastic’ milk bottles distract from dairy’s heavy environmental toll by focusing on plastic reduction. The eco-friendly claims also fall short, as the bottle's multi-material design makes it challenging to recycle.

These green claims aren’t as impressive as they seem. While Yeo Valley’s new milk carton touts “70% less plastic,” its multi-material design, combining plastic and paper, makes recycling far from straightforward. Many local recycling programmes don’t accept such packaging, and few facilities can process it, let alone keep it in closed-loop recycling for food-grade packaging.
These claims also overlook—and attempt to distract from—the significant environmental impact of dairy farming itself. Dairy production is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and water use in agriculture. By focusing on reduced plastic, Yeo Valley misleads eco-conscious consumers into thinking their choice is sustainable, while the true costs of dairy milk production, including emissions, water consumption, and land degradation, remain substantial. Animal agriculture contributes 60% of food-related emissions, making this a typical greenwashing tactic from Big Dairy.