The company said its Leicester-based site had, as a result, moved the company closer to reducing its carbon impact within UK operations by 34 per cent by 2020 against a 2005 baseline.

The dairy’s operations director, Peter Carter, said: “As a business we recognise the importance of minimising our carbon impact as much as possible.

He added: “We wanted to reduce our environmental impact and have been trying to end waste going to landfill for some time now.”

Arla said that waste on the Ashby site is segregated, so that it can then be sent directly for recycling, or to a sorting mill from where it is then forwarded on to other specialist recycling companies.

The company said that 80 per cent of UK waste currently produced was diverted away from landfill, while the firm said it had cut plastic consumption by over 1,300 tonnes against a 2007 baseline.