Some 330,000t of milk, worth £150m, go to waste in the UK every year, representing 7% of liquid milk produced in the country, according to the non-profit Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) working with industry to reduce food waste.

Its research found that 90% of losses occur in consumers' homes, where 18.5 pints of milk go to waste annually in the average British household.

Inadequate refrigeration

One of the main reasons for this was inadequate refrigeration, with the average temperature in a UK domestic fridge 6.6°C instead of the recommended below 5°C.

Many consumers also failed to consume milk by its use-by date.

Bringing the average fridge temperature below 5°C could reduce milk waste across the UK by 50,000t and adding one day to the use-by date could save another 20,000t per year, according to WRAP calculations.

The group recommends education campaigns and devices to help householders set their fridge temperature correctly and encourage them to freeze leftover milk before it goes off.

Separator desludge

Processors waste an estimated 13,000t of milk through desludging after separating milk and cream.

"There are currently no means to prevent separator desludge, but it is potentially a rich resource containing high nutrient value proteins and, at the quantities produced, there may be viable options to further process into materials suitable for food or animal feed applications," the study found.

Further options include improving container and roll cage design for the delivery of milk to retail outlets.

Breakage and leaks account for 29,000t of wastage across the UK each year.