First came the traditional glass milk bottle, then the plastic alternative - and now a Lowestoft supermarket has launched the "Greenbottle".

The new-style container, developed by Greenbottle, of Framlingham, Suffolk, has gone on sale at Asda in Lowestoft, and if the trial proves successful it is likely to be rolled out nationally later in the year.

Priced identically to environmentally-unfriendly plastic bottles, the new bottle is available in regular two-litre sizes and filled with Suffolk milk.

With more than 100,000 tonnes of plastic bottles currently going to landfill each year - the equivalent of 260 jumbo jets - the Greenbottle is being billed as a sustainable alternative for shoppers.

Once the milk has been consumed, the cardboard bottle can be recycled along with newspapers and magazines.

A bag holding the milk inside the Greenbottle is itself quickly biodegradable and can be discarded with other household rubbish.

Designer Martin Myerscough said: "It's always bothered me that consumers have had to buymilk in plastic bottles that are difficult to recycle. The new design ensures the packaging protects the milk and yet can easily be recycled, easing the pressure on landfill which is becoming limited and expensive.

"If successful, we'll even use unwanted cardboard packaging from other supermarket products to make our Greenbottle."

He added: "Plastic milk bottles could become a thing of the past."

James Strachan, executive director at Suffolk dairy Marybelle, whose milk is contained in the new packaging, agrees that Greenbottle represents a genuine customer and environmental advance.

He said: "Locally sourced milk in a recyclable bottle is bound to have high appeal.He said: "Locally sourced milk in a recyclable bottle is bound to have high appeal. I don't  think it will be long before.

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