A new future to milkies
ing plastic bottles from the supermarket. He said: “You get 40 uses from a glass bottle compared to just one plastic bottle. We have a lot of electric vehicles - better for the environment then diesel vehicles.
“All of our products and dairy farmers are within a 30-mile radius of the business. That is a low carbon footprint. We are also going to thousands of residents. This means they aren’t taking their cars to the supermarkets.”
Chris said the phones have not stopped ringing since January and sales have risen by 30 per cent, with 20pc of the new customers specifically asking for glass bottles.
“We have clearly seen a huge increase since Christmas and since the Blue Planet David Attenborough series”, he said. “I think most people including myself found it really shocking. “Even though I have spent years shouting about recycling, I hadn’t realised the extent of the problem. As a result of that we have seen a massive increase in enquiries and customers. “We have had over 1,000 customers register with us since Christmas. “Around 200-300 people registered the previous year. In business terms, that’s pretty substantial. At the moment it looks like there is a demand. “There is more interest in certain areas, such as places like Chorlton, areas where there are millennials, or people who care about the local area. But we do go within every street of a 10-mile radius of the M60 and North Chris Swallow Cheshire. You can put order an order in by 5pm, it’ll be ready by 9am next day and you can use the postcode checker all online.”
Creamline’s most popular product is semi-skimmed milk in a glass pint bottle. However, the organic milk is also becoming more popular.
Chris said investing in the website has also helped sales and customers can now sign up for deliveries without having to make a phone call.
There are also plans to try to make the business even greener by the end of the year, with transit vans used to cover further distances being transformed into battery operated vehicles.
“We are investing in non-petrol vehicles and we are trying to offer people options so they can use as little plastic as possible in our range,” Chris said. “By the third quarter of this year we will have a plastic-free aisle on the online shop, so people can make informed decisions and be as green as they want - or not, as the case may be.”