The largest integrated producer of dairy products is taking sustainability efforts up a notch by encouraging consumers to buy fresh milk in returnable and re-usable glass bottles.

In line with its sustainability goal, founder and CEO of Farm Fresh, Loi Tuan Ee has just announced its “Milk on Tap @ Jaya Grocer” initiative in an exclusive collaboration with Jaya Grocer.

Consumers at Jaya Grocer 163 Retail Park, Mont Kiara can get fresh milk dispensed into Farm Fresh glass bottles at the same price of RM7.90 per litre with only a one-time payment of RM3 per empty bottle. They can return the bottle at their next purchase in exchange for a newly-filled bottle.

To mark this occasion, Loi turned “milkman” at the kiosk to dispense fresh milk in glass bottles to Jaya Grocer CEO Adelene Foo who promptly announced that Jaya Grocer would waive the RM3 charge for the first 1,000 customers opting for this eco-friendly way of buying milk.

Adelene hoped customers would make full use of this environmentally-friendly option and help reduce the use of plastics.

“We’re happy to collaborate with Farm Fresh on this worthy initiative as we share similar concerns over sustainability. We believe our customers are equally concerned with the proliferation of single-use plastics,” she said.

Jaya Grocer would consider extending this service to customers at other Jaya Grocer outlets later, depending on the success of this pilot project.

“Farm Fresh has taken a corporate policy stand to reduce our carbon footprint and take pro-active steps to be more environmentally responsible. Currently, 37% of our turnover comes from products that use fully recyclable and sustainably-forested packaging, and we aim to increase that level in future,” Loi said.

“Dispensing fresh milk to consumers in reusable glass bottles is already practised in Western countries. This is not only seemingly fresher but would also help make the zero-waste objective more achievable,” he added.

Loi commented that it was an example of how industry could help tackle the plastics problem and reduce the load at landfills and thanked Jaya Grocer for being highly-receptive to the idea.

“We don’t need everybody to make a massive change. We just need a lot of people to make a small change,” he quipped.