And why MYOM is leading the shift to a smarter, lighter milk system

How to Choose the Most Sustainable Oat Milk in the UK

The oat milk aisle has exploded from just a few cartons a decade ago to entire shelves packed with brands positioning themselves as greener, cleaner, or more planet friendly. But with so many competing claims, how do you know which oat milk is actually sustainable?

More importantly what makes one oat milk more sustainable than another?

Most people assume sustainability comes down to the ingredient list or whether the carton looks recyclable. Both matter — but neither captures the true environmental impact.

To understand which oat milk is genuinely the most sustainable option in the UK, you need to look at the system behind how milk is made, moved, packaged, stored, and consumed.

This guide breaks it down clearly, with the facts that actually make a difference — and why MYOM’s concentrated format offers one of the lowest-impact milk systems in the UK.

Why Oat Milk Sustainability Matters More Than Ever

Sustainability is one of the top reasons people switch from dairy — and with good reason. The environmental impact of dairy milk is significant: it produces high greenhouse gas emissions, requires large amounts of land and water, depends heavily on chilled distribution, and has a short shelf life that leads to substantial household waste.

Oat milk already improves on all of these areas. It has a lower carbon footprint, is far less resource-intensive, is easier to store, is naturally plant-based, and remains stable at ambient temperatures. But there’s an overlooked truth:

Most oat milks still operate inside an outdated dairy-style system.

They ship heavy liquids. They use bulky cartons. They require significant transport space. They often spoil before they’re finished. So while oat milk is better, it’s not yet optimised for sustainability.

The Hidden Environmental Costs of “Liquid Oat Milk”

Most oat milks are:

• About 90% water
• Packaged in multi-layer cartons
• Shipped long distances by lorry
• Refrigerated once opened
• Sold in fixed one-litre volumes

Visualise that: supermarkets and supply chains are filled with trucks transporting… water.

This is one of the least efficient climate behaviours in the modern food system and it’s the single biggest reason even plant milks can perform poorly on emissions.

Transportation weight, packaging complexity, and refrigeration are all huge contributors to environmental impact. That’s why solutions like concentrated formats are emerging and why MYOM is leading that shift.

What to Look For When Choosing a Sustainable Oat Milk

When comparing oat milks, here are the elements that truly matter:

✔ 1. Packaging Material
Is it mono-material and widely recyclable? Or a multi-layer composite carton that many UK facilities cannot process?

✔ 2. Packaging Weight
Sustainability improves dramatically when packaging weight drops.

✔ 3. Transport Weight
The biggest question… Are you shipping water, or food?
Low transport weight = much lower emissions.

✔ 4. Refrigeration Requirements
Cold-chain logistics = high energy. A sustainable format minimises refrigeration.

✔ 5. Shelf Life
Longer ambient shelf life → lower household waste.

✔ 6. Waste Reduction
Can you make only what you need? Or are you stuck with 1L that expires in days?

✔ 7. Ingredient Simplicity
A long list of stabilisers, gums, emulsifiers → More processing, more energy, more supply-chain miles.
Shorter lists = lighter footprint.

✔ 8. Independent Recognition
Third-party validation (awards, features, accelerators) boosts credibility.

✔ 9. Lifecycle Thinking
The gold standard: does the product improve impact at every stage? This matters for true sustainability.

Comparing Oat Milk Formats (and Why It Matters)

Different oat milk formats have very different sustainability profiles. Here’s how they compare.

Oat Milk in Cartons

Oat milk in cartons is convenient and ready to drink, but it comes with significant drawbacks. It ships around 90% water, carries a heavy transport footprint, and uses mixed-material cartons that are difficult to recycle in practice. It also needs to be consumed quickly once opened and is often wasted before it’s finished.

Powdered Oat Milk

Powdered oat milk is lightweight and has a long shelf life, which makes it appealing from a storage perspective. However, it typically has a gritty texture, is harder to dissolve, often requires stabilisers, and delivers a lower taste satisfaction.

Refillables / Glass Milk Systems

Refillable or glass-bottle milk systems remove single-use packaging after the first refill, which appears sustainable at first glance. However, glass is extremely heavy and therefore carries high transport emissions; breakage rates are also considerable, cold-chain distribution is often still required, and the overall sustainability claims can be misleading when the full lifecycle is taken into account.

MYOM Oat Milk (Premix)

MYOM’s concentrated premix offers a much more efficient and enjoyable alternative. It is 7× concentrated, ships almost no water, requires no cold chain, and generates far lower emissions. The lightweight pouches are fully recyclable, the taste is consistently silky, and the make-only-what-you-need format significantly reduces waste. 

Which Format Is Most Sustainable?

Across packaging, transport, energy, waste and lifecycle: Premix liquid formats like MYOM rank among the lowest-impact oat milks available today.

The Data: How MYOM Performs vs Dairy and Carton Oat Milk

Environmental Impact Comparison Table

Per litre equivalent, the differences are striking. Dairy milk produces 1.78 kg of CO₂e, carton oat milk produces 0.62 kg, and MYOM delivers just 0.33 kg, an 81% reduction versus dairy. Water use shows a similar pattern: dairy requires around 1,050 litres, carton oat uses 44 litres, and MYOM uses only 23 litres, cutting water demand by 98%.

Packaging is dramatically lighter too, with standard cartons weighing 35 grams compared with MYOM’s 6-gram pouch, an 83% reduction in material. Transport emissions also fall sharply because liquid milks weigh around 1.03 kg per litre, while MYOM weighs just 0.13 kg, making it 87% lighter to distribute. Shelf life improves as well: dairy lasts about a month, carton oat milks last around nine months, and MYOM lasts up to twelve months.

These aren’t small improvements, they are system-level gains.

Why Shipping Less Weight Changes Everything

When you remove water from distribution:

• You need fewer trucks
• You use less fuel
• You cut cold storage
• You improve pallet efficiency
• You lower emissions per serving delivered

As Springwise put it in their 2024 feature: “MYOM addresses the absurdity of transporting high-water-content products by removing water from the supply chain entirely.” That insight captures why MYOM is different: It tackles the inefficiency at the root.

Packaging: The Most Overlooked Sustainability Factor

Most cartons are made from bonded layers of paperboard, aluminium and polyethylene — difficult to recycle in practice.

MYOM replaces this with:

• PP5 mono-material pouches
• Widely kerbside recyclable in the UK
• Only 6 grams of material
• Zero aluminium
• No separation process required
• Cardboard outers that are 100% recyclable and made from sustainably sourced forestry materials

Less material → less waste → lower emissions. 

Ingredient Simplicity = Clearer Environmental Performance

MYOM keeps things deliberately simple, using just a handful of purposeful ingredients: oats, rapeseed oil, sea salt, vitamin B12, vitamin D3 and iodine. And that’s it. There’s nothing unnecessary… no gums, no stabilisers, no emulsifiers, no phosphates and no acidity regulators. This cleaner formulation isn’t just better for taste and texture; it also means less processing, fewer supply-chain miles, lower energy use and a significantly lighter environmental footprint overall.

Cutting Household Waste (One of the Biggest Climate Levers)

A shocking 500 million litres of milk are wasted annually in the UK.

The cause?

Fixed 1-litre formats that expire before you finish them.

MYOM solves this:

• Ambient shelf life for 12 months
• Make 500ml or 1L as needed
• No half-used cartons spoiling
• Less need to “panic-pour” before expiry

This alone reduces household milk waste by 10–15%.

Lifecycle Sustainability: How MYOM Reduces Impact from Start to Finish

Sustainability isn’t just about low carbon. It is about improving the impact at every stage of a product’s life. MYOM’s premix format delivers meaningful reductions in environmental impact from the field to your fridge, and even after you’ve finished the last drop.

From the Field

Oats are already one of the most climate-efficient crops, demanding far less land and water than dairy while generating only a fraction of the emissions. This gives MYOM’s impact profile a head start before production even begins.

Smarter Production

Because MYOM removes water from the process, there’s no need for energy-intensive steps commonly used in traditional oat milk manufacturing, such as large-scale homogenisation or stabiliser blending. Fewer interventions mean less energy consumed and a cleaner overall production footprint.

A Leaner Supply Chain

When it comes to distribution, MYOM’s advantages multiply. The concentrated premix weighs significantly less than liquid milk, enabling more efficient pallet loads and dramatically lowering transport emissions. And without refrigeration requirements, MYOM avoids one of the biggest energy demands in the cold-chain system.

In Daily Life

MYOM fits more flexibly around how people actually use milk. Its long ambient shelf life reduces the chance of spoilage, and because you make it fresh in exactly the amount you need, it helps minimise the household waste that so often comes with traditional one-litre cartons.

End of Use

Once finished, MYOM leaves behind packaging that is as responsible as the product itself. Its mono-material pouches can be easily recycled from home or through widely available PP streams, avoiding the challenges of mixed-material waste. Even the outer cardboard packaging is fully recyclable and sourced from sustainable forestry, ensuring MYOM’s footprint remains low right to the very end.

Independent Recognition Matters

In December 2024, Springwise, the global innovation and sustainability platform, profiled MYOM as a breakthrough in low‑waste milk systems. MYOM was also selected for the Amazon Sustainability Accelerator, further validating its low-impact model. And our many, many awards matters because they signal rigour, transparency, and credibility.

The Bottom Line: Choose Taste, Not Waste

If you're searching for the most sustainable oat milk in the UK, choose a brand that rethinks the whole system. Less packaging. Less weight. No refrigeration. Less waste. Lower carbon. More sense.

Sustainability FAQs

Is MYOM the most sustainable oat milk in the UK?

Based on packaging, transport weight, recyclability and lifecycle impact, MYOM offers one of the lowest-footprint oat milk systems available.

Are MYOM pouches recyclable?

Yes. PP5 plastic, widely accepted in UK kerbside recycling.

Does premix oat milk taste good?

Yes. MYOM is silky, creamy and award-winning, outperforming many cartons in taste tests.

Is MYOM better than powdered oat milk?

Yes. It mixes instantly, tastes smoother, and uses fewer additives.

Does MYOM foam?

Yes. MYOM Barista Oat produces café-quality foam without gums or emulsifiers.

Bottom Line: Choose Taste, Not Waste

If you want the most sustainable oat milk in the UK, look beyond the packaging and consider the entire system.

MYOM delivers:

• Lower emissions
• Less packaging
• Less waste
• Better recyclability
• Lower transport footprint
• Smarter design
• Better taste

A lighter future for milk starts here.