Farmers' call
OPINION: Fonterra's $4.22 billion consumer business sale to Lactalis is ruffling a few feathers outside the dairy industry.
The milestone is being marked with a celebration at Otago's George Street Normal School where students were challenged to a 'fastest folder competition' by members of the Otago Highlanders Super Rugby team.
George Street Normal principal, Rod Galloway, says the Fonterra Milk for Schools programme is providing nutrition that is beneficial to the children's learning, and is also helping to teach them about the importance of recycling.
"The programme has been really well received here. The 'drink it dry, fold it flat and send it back' phrase is clever, catchy and engrained in the classrooms," says Galloway. "The children take these recycling messages home with them, which benefits the New Zealand environment beyond the school gate."
Across New Zealand, a total of 14 million Fonterra Milk for Schools milk packs have been delivered and devoured by 170,000 Kiwi kids since May last year.
All of the used milk packs are shipped abroad to Thailand and Malaysia and recycled into useful products such as roof sheets, desks, paper and books.
In fact, each handmade Thai roofing sheet is made up of 7,625 recycled Fonterra Milk for Schools milk packs and each Thai school book is made up of 16 recycled milk packs.
Recycling has been top of mind for Fonterra since the programme's inception and getting the kids on board has driven its success.
Fonterra environmental manager, Nic Bishop, says the education about recycling that Fonterra Milk for Schools provides is just as important as the recycling service itself.
"The initiative in place has allowed Fonterra Milk for Schools to achieve a 100 per cent closed-loop recycling solution, looking after the integrity of the programme's supply chain and educating Kiwi kids to be responsible for looking after our environment," says Bishop.
