Graeme Hart's New Zealand Dairy Foods has announced it will close New Zealand's last milk bottling line effective 30 November. The announcement was greeted with outrage by the Greens, who had been campaigning to save the operation. Accounting to NZDF CE Greg Cole, the Christchurch bottling plant was commissioned in 1969 and is at the end of its practical operating life after 36 years. Greens Spokesperson on waste, Nandor Tanczos, said the move would destroy "the home delivery service that people rely on, for the sake of profits." But NZDF said home delivery would continue and that only the packaging would be changed. "The decline in consumption of milk in glass, coupled with the age of the bottling plant mean it is no longer possible to keep manufacturing in today's environment." Mr Cole said.
