Yoplait has launched recyclable PET bottle across its 500g and 825g formats of Yop, some four years after announcing it would make the change.
Featuring clear PET and including 35% rPET, the bottles have a micro-perforated sleeve for the consumer to remove before being put into the recycling bin.
Each bottle now also has an attached cap, enabling the PET bottle and cap to be easily sorted and recycled and to help minimise littering.
The brand had initially said in 2021 that it would be moving to recyclable bottles, following a publicity stunt from comedian Joe Lycett that highlighted the difficulty of recycling white PET.
While appearing on Channel 4 show Steph’s Packed Lunch, he said he had stopped using white plastic as it was harder to recycle, before a photograph was shown of him with a bottle of Yop in the background.
When host Steph McGovern confronted him about his apparent hypocrisy, he took off his microphone and comically appeared to storm off set – before launching a campaign on his own consumer affairs programme to pressurise the brand to change its packaging.
“Clear PET plastic bottles are widely recycled and contribute to the circular economy. If you put a clear PET plastic bottle in the recycling, there’s a good chance it will become another clear PET plastic bottle. Coloured and in particular white PET plastic bottles are much harder to recycle,” Lycett wrote on social media at the time.
In response, Yoplait confirmed that it would be moving to clear PET plastic from 2022, with bottles including recycled materials.
However, the brand this week confirmed a change in its ownership in 2021 – when General Mills offloaded its 51% stake in the Yoplait brand in Europe to former owner Sodiaal – had delayed the project, until now.
“Our ambition is for all of our packaging to be recyclable by the end of 2025 and the move to PET and inclusion of rPET in our Yop bottles this year and the move to PET for our Petits Filous, Wildlife, Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol pots last year has seen us take a huge step towards this ambition,” said Antoine Hours, general manager at Yoplait UK.
“We are confident we can move towards being a more circular brand as technologies and infrastructures become more sophisticated.”
Yop will also now bear the new Yoplait logo and include more information on the back of pack to educate the consumer that Yop is a yoghurt drink, rather than just flavoured milk, which keeps consumers fuller for longer.
Yop is available in Strawberry and Raspberry flavours in both bottle formats, is targeted at 15-24 year olds, has a unique smooth texture, and is a source of protein, calcium and vitamin D.
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