12 Mar 2014

School milk scheme goes offshore

8:45 am on 12 March 2014

Fonterra's milk for schools programme has been expanded and now reaches New Zealand's more remote islands.

Seventeen schools on Great Barrier, Chatham and Stewart islands have joined the dairy cooperative's programme aimed at getting milk to every primary-school-aged child in the country.

Milk for Schools operations manager Louise Aitken says about 160 children at the 17 schools will now be able to drink free milk everyday.

She says getting the milk to those schools is a big logistical effort so it teamed up with shipping companies that service the islands. Those companies will ship the milk packs to the islands and bring the empty ones back for recycling.

"We've had really great support from the community in those islands," Ms Aitken says. "We work very closely with the local milkmen who support those islands. We've got one school that's got three kids, up to a school that's got 90.

About 1400 schools altogether are part of the scheme.