I looked up the Cow & Gate's environmental policy entitled "Protecting your baby and the environment" which states "We no longer package our milks in tin cans and wherever we can we always use recycled materials."
I emailed Cow & Gate to ask them if I could recycle their packaging. This is my email:
"Hi, I find that I am particularly sensitive to environmental issues with the arrival of my son. I was wondering how I go about recycling your packaging (Follow-on milk powder). Unless I have missed something, it seems to be quite bulky and made of materials which would not easily decompose, and at the same time, there seems to be no way of recycling it. Thanks for your time. K"
This was their reply:
"Dear K,
thank you for your e-mail regarding recycling our packaging.
The Ready to Feed cartons are made from a triple laminate and the three layers are paper, aluminium and polyethylene. They are not easy to recycle but they may be incinerated.
The Eazy Packs are a triple laminate, with the layers being cardboard, aluminium and polyethylene. The lids of the Eazy Pack are fine to recycle with all other plastic but the main body of the pack needs to be recycled by a specialist.
There is a company you can get in touch with who will be able to tell you of any schemes in your area, The address and website is below: -
The Liquid food carton manufacturers association, Churcham house, 1 Bridgeman road, Teddington, TW11 9AJ
The Frutapura cups are made of a laminate ( polystyrene PS, and EVOH barrier layer and polyethylene PE ) and as such recycling is not easy as usually recyclers need one type of plastic.
The scoops in the milk powder do have a triangle on the handles but unfortunately this does not make them recyclable, the triangle must have a number 1,2 or 3 in it for it to be recycled.
Kind regards,
Lisa
Baby Care Advisor"
So that's a NO, I cannot recycle their packaging. A bit poor considering their environmental policy.