Aylesbury's Arla plant is set to receive £33.6 million and become their UK home

The decision to significantly increase the investments of the company was approved at a meeting in London this week by Arla's board, which mainly consists of elected farm owners.

The Chair of Arla Foods, Åke Hantoft, underlines that all investments by Arla Foods are made to secure long-term growth and profit opportunities for the company’s 11,200 farmer owners across Europe: “Arla has a history of good investments for sustained growth.

"The board of directors has decided to increase our investments with this plan, because we have identified new projects and investments with short and long term potential for significant return. The business growth these investments will create for our company will generate growth opportunities for our farmer owners.

"We see these investments as essential to the future of our business.”

Arla’s carbon net zero site in Aylesbury will see the biggest proportion of UK spend with an investment of £33.6 million (€38.4 million) as it becomes the UK home to the production of Arla’s Lactose free dairy products using milk from UK farmers in the south east and the midlands.

The investment in Aylesbury will also provide new facilities for the production of new product packaging using flexible pouches.

The commitment of financial investment for the diversification of its packaging materials signals a clear move from Arla to explore alternatives to plastic.

As a company which has already committed to using 100 per cent recyclable plastic by 2020 and 50 per cent recycled plastic in its plastic milk bottles, the investment into emerging packaging is further evidence of Arla’s commitment to sustainable business.