☁️ Carbon emissions

The dairy industry is one of the largest polluters globally, accounting for 3.4% of total greenhouse gas emissions.²

To put this into perspective, that's 40% more than the emissions produced by the entire aviation industry.

💧 Water usage

The dairy industry is also extremely water intensive, with each litre of milk produced requiring an input of 628 litres of water.⁹

🥇 Why plant milk wins

Plant milk has a significantly lower environmental impact vs. dairy, and oat milk is amongst the most sustainable options.

In fact for each litre of oat milk consumed, it saves 580 litres of water & 2.3kg of CO₂ vs. dairy. That really adds up over a lifetime.

😊 Momentum

Things are moving in the right direction, with 35% of UK households now opting for plant milk instead of dairy.³

🥛 Direct comparison

Carbon emissions
Oat = 0.9kg per litre
Dairy = 3.2kg per litre

Water usage
Oat = 48 litres per litre
Dairy = 628 litres per litre

🤔 What's next?

Whilst the UK's shift towards plant milk is great, we want to make plant milk EVEN more sustainable.

🧃 No more cartons

We’re on a mission to put an end to cartons. By reimagining plant milk through our lightweight, shelf-stable oat milk powder.

Overherd helps reduce packaging waste, transport emissions and food waste one glass at a time.

Read on to explore exactly why Overherd oat milk powder is a more sustainable solution.

🧃 The problem with cartons

1️⃣ Energy intensive to produce.
2️⃣ Packaging intensive.
3️⃣ Hard to recycle.

🧅 Made from multiple materials

Cartons are made from plastic, paper and aluminium glued together with solvents.

🗑️ Hard to recycle

This makes separation and recycling challenging, with only 29% of cartons actually being recycled.¹

💧 Scrap the water

Overherd oat milk powder is 10x more space efficient vs. liquid milk cartons which are 90% water.

📦 Reduce packaging

As a result we're able to use 10x less packaging vs. cartons.

♻️ Easier to recycle

Our lightweight, recyclable LDPE pouches are made from a single material, making them much easier to recycle than multi-material cartons.

🔎 The brief

We needed packaging which was lightweight and easy to recycle whilst also protecting Overherd oat milk powder from damage.

We partnered with the non-profit BioVale to identify the most sustainable packaging options for Overherd.

Paper-based packaging was our first consideration, but it didn’t provide adequate moisture protection, leading to product spoilage.

We also explored compostable pouches; however, while these sound great in theory, they can cause more harm than good if not disposed of correctly, as most types require industrial composting facilities which aren’t widely accessible.

🤔 Our decision

We opted for a super lightweight 100% recyclable LDPE pouch which takes the place of 8 regular cartons.

This represents a 91% reduction in packaging, offers great moisture protection (preventing food waste), and is made from one material so is easier to recycle.

The pouch is printed using carbon neutral methods and has been verified by Recycle Now. For information on how to recycle our pouches please see here.

🔜 The future

We're always looking at ways we can make our packaging more sustainable.

If there's a packaging type you think we should consider drop us an email to team@overherd.uk.

We also now offer Overherd in a growing number of zero waste stores eliminating packaging altogether!

🚚 Transport matters

Over a full supply chain, transport can account for as much as 20–30% of a products total carbon footprint.¹⁰

💧Water = emissions

The problem is that liquid milk cartons are 90% water, which is where the majority of the weight comes from. This makes them heavy and inefficient to transport.

Every unnecessary litre of water moved means more lorries, producing higher emissions per unit of nutrition delivered.

🪶 10x lighter

With Overherd oat milk powder, you add the water at home instead, which means it comes in 10x lighter than liquid milk cartons.

☁️ Fewer emissions

This translates to fewer lorries, producing fewer emissions throughout the supply chain.

🇬🇧 Made locally

Overherd is made in the UK, so the distance travelled is also less than some plant milks which are manufactured abroad.

🧃 Transport emissions from carton milk

The transport emissions associated with road delivery of cartons are estimated at 0.125g CO₂ per litre per km.⁵

🥛 Transport emissions from Overherd

As a result, transporting oat milk powder (10x lighter) generates only 0.0125 g of CO₂ per litre per km.⁵

🔎 Other factors

The use of tap water to prepare oat milk from Overherd adds 0.3 g of CO₂ per litre.⁶

The below chart shows some example transport emission calculations.

🗑️ Short shelf life, more waste

The problem is that liquid cartons spoil quickly once opened. Many people don’t finish a full carton before it goes off, leading to unnecessary waste at home.

🧃 Why cartons make it worse

Carton sizes are fixed, so consumers can’t easily control portioning. Once opened, cartons require refrigeration and quick consumption. Leftovers or forgotten cartons often spoil before they’re finished.

🎉 Long shelf life, zero waste

Unlike cartons which spoil quickly. Overherd oat milk powder has a naturally long shelf life (no preservatives) and stays fresh for over 12 months.

That means fewer forgotten cartons at the back of the fridge and no more pouring milk down the drain.

🥄 Make only what you need

With Overherd, you decide the portion size. Whether it’s a splash for coffee or a full litre for breakfast, you mix exactly what you need, so nothing goes to waste.

This simple flexibility eliminates one of the biggest causes of milk waste at home.

✅ Less waste across the supply chain

Our lightweight, shelf-stable format means fewer expired products in stores and less spoilage during transport or storage.

Retailers can stock more efficiently, and consumers get a product that lasts far longer — cutting food waste at every stage.

😭 Waste by the numbers

In the UK, 1 in 6 pints of milk are thrown away, that's 490 million pints wasted over a year.⁸ We're definitely crying over spilled milk!

🌍 Environmental cost

Every litre wasted represents the emissions, water, and resources that went into producing and transporting it. This effectively increases the environmental impact on a per litre consumed basis.