Storing milk in your fridge door seems like a sensible idea, right? The carton fits perfectly inside the shelf and it’s easy to access when you’re making endless cups of tea per day. Plus, there’s no risk of leakage since the bottle stands upright.
However, according to a fridge manufacturing company, we’ve been doing it all wrong.
Kitchen appliance company Beko has warned people who store their milk in this way that they could be decreasing the longevity of the food and drink in their fridge just by the way it’s organised.
The company’s research has revealed that UK households bin about £250 worth of food per person in a typical year, or £1,000 per year for a family of four – and part of this is down to food going off before it’s eaten.
Salah Sun, Head of Product Management at Beko, said: “The way we organise our fridges can make or break our efforts to reduce food waste.
“Most people don’t realise that poor fridge organisation isn’t just about aesthetics – it directly impacts food longevity and your household budget.”
Sun explained: “Temperature fluctuates within your fridge, so storing items in the right zones is crucial. The bottom shelf, being the coldest, is perfect for raw meats, while the middle shelves maintain ideal conditions for dairy and prepared foods.”
“The door, often used for milk, is actually the warmest area due to frequent opening.”
Experts recommend organising designated areas of your fridge tailored to the different foodstuffs will help what you buy last longer.
“We recommend keeping more stable items like condiments and drinks in the door compartments, moving milk to the middle shelf where temperatures remain more constant.”
Having an organised and well-thought-out storage system won’t only help people reduce food waste, but also encourage them to make healthier choices.
“When you can see and access everything easily, you’re more likely to cook at home and make healthier choices,” Beko recommends. “Plus, maintaining optimal storage conditions means your fresh produce lasts longer, reducing both waste and shopping frequency.”
It comes after Ecover, the ecological cleaning product company, issued a warning to UK shoppers about the environmental impact of continuously purchasing washing-up liquid in plastic bottles.
Washing up liquid is typically sold in single-use plastic bottles and UK households go through millions of these each year.
Ecover is urging shoppers to rethink their usual buying habits and opt for buying refillable washing-up liquid products that are sold in recyclable packaging.
Ecover said: “In 2016, less than half of all plastic bottles were collected for recycling and only 7 per cent of those were turned into new bottles. The resulting impact on waterways and marine life is, to put it bluntly, horrifying – with an estimated 12.7 million tonnes ending up in oceans each year.”
The company has created more than 700 refill stations across the UK, where consumers can stock up on washing up liquid, laundry detergent or toilet cleaner without the concern of contributing to plastic waste.
Other cleaning product companies such as Fairy sell refill cartons for its plastic bottles, which allows you to refill a typical Fairy liquid bottle more than twice, which helps you to reduce plastic waste.
