A £15 million project to substantially upgrade Scotland’s largest fresh milk dairy and secure 265 jobs has been completed.
The project by Müller represents the largest single investment in Scottish dairy processing for more than a decade.
It gives Bellshill dairy the capacity to process more than 370 million litres of fresh milk and cream each year, with milk provided by 230 dairy farmers.
The project includes a new filling hall to make cream products, two additional milk production lines, energy efficient cooling systems and an extended chill space to increase capacity for finished products.
Bellshill is the only Scottish dairy with the ability to manufacture milk bottles on site which are 100% light-weighted and recyclable.
It also makes products using recyclable Tetra Pak cartons made with paperboard, a renewable raw material.
The on-site bottle manufacturing capability cuts down unnecessary movements of vehicles and gives Müller the means to further accelerate a reduction in the use of plastic and increase the use of recycled plastic in its bottles to a target of 50% by 2020.
The opening of Bellshill followed the closure of dairies in Aberdeen and East Kilbride.
