Dairy Crest is overhauling the packaging of its spreads portfolio in a bid to address growing consumer concerns about packaging waste and to provide a more user-friendly tub.

The new tubs will be smaller, but their innovative rounded design means they will contain the same net weight of spread as the current tubs. The first Dairy Crest spread to get the new, 'greener' tubs is Country Life Spreadable, which is available in the revamped packs in the mults now. 

Clover, Utterly Butterly and Vitalite will also be given packaging overhauls at a later stage, and Vitalite will also be given a new on-pack flash highlighting its new accreditation from the Vegan Society.

Dairy Crest said it had decided to review its packaging after consumer feedback suggested it needed to be more aware of its environmental impact. Shoppers also wanted a more modern tub design that was easier to use, added Louise Pike, Dairy Crest head of marketing for butters and spreads. "We have listened to our consumers, who tell us they want us to be more conscious of the impact we have on the environment, as well as producing a stylish and easy-to-use tub," she said. "We think the new design achieves both."

The new packaging would result in more efficient use of materials, said Pike. Dairy Crest calculations had also indicated that the newly designed tubs would allow for more efficient transportation, using fewer journeys, which in turn would reduce road miles, a spokeswoman added.

Dairy Crest would not be drawn on how much it would spend on rolling out the new packs, but said the initiative represented a "significant investment" and was the result of a "major review".

Dairy Crest has a 19% share of the UK butters and spreads market by value [Nielsen 52w/e 19 March 2011]. Dairy Crest's new tubs were created by design agency BrandOpus, which has also worked on Dairy Crest's new kids cheese, Chedds.