Milk Delivery - Organic or Recyclable?

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Milk Delivery - Organic or Recyclable?

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Leonie

Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 731
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 8:10 am Post subject: Milk Delivery - Organic or Recyclable?

I get some of my milk delivered by our local milkman because it saves on those short trips to the shop just to buy milk (we go through an enormous amount of milk because of home making all sorts of things like cheese, yoghurt and icecream and our two young children prefer to drink milk over juice or water) and I also like the idea of supporting a service that I believe one day will no longer be around unless it gets support from the local community.

When I buy milk I always try to buy organic and so have requested an organic milk to be delivered. But, the organic milk is sometimes delivered in a plastic bottle (which our local council will collect for recyling) or in a tetra pack type carton which cannot be recycled locally.

My dilemma and which I'd like some ideas for is: is it better to buy non-organic milk (I don't like to support intensive farming though) in a glass and recyclable bottle, or is it better to buy organic milk but that often comes in a carton that will end in the bin (and I don't like to throw things in the bin if there's an alternative).

What would you all do?

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 8:14 am Post subject:

Its something I've thought about too. We have milk delivered as there is no local shop in the village. The milkman only comes 3 days a week so I've chosen to have my milk in plastic cartons rather than bottles ( and there was a choice) so I can freeze some to help even out our usage. Its a tricky one though isn't it? I do use some of the milk cartons as cane toppers on the plot and the rest get put in the recycling bin.

I do have juice from the milkman in bottles and then put them back out to stop me buying tetra packs from Tescos.

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 8:45 am Post subject:

Our milkman (midlands co-op) does do organic milk in glass bottles, so I can avert the dilemma thankfully, cos otherwise I'm not quite sure what to pick.

They do not seem to promote the fact they do organic milk at all so I wonder if anyone else buys it. One day they delivered it in plastic bottles, and I was worried they'd stopped the glass ones as they've recently been bought out by dairy crest, but it was just a blip.

Will

Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 571
Location: Grenoside, Sheffield

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 9:06 am Post subject:
The organic/wholefood cash and carry in Sheffield offers a recycling service for Tetrapak cartons - I'll see what I can find out. Also here: https://www.drinkscartons.com/docs/recycling_uk.htm is a site about recycling them.

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 9:24 am Post subject:

When I was faced with this dilemma I chose organic milk that came in waxed card cartons, which I figured weren't as bad for landfill as plastic. Nowadays I only use about 2 pints a week, so I don't worry so much about it and usually buy organic in plastic at the supermarket.

I'd go for organic especially as you have kids and consume quite a lot. But keep asking the dairy when they are going to do it in glass bottles

. Creating the demand is important and it's great that you are supporting the delivery service.

Lucky ele having access to organic in glass - I'm sure it's an illusion, but I'm sure it tastes better from glass bottles

Leonie

Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 731
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 9:33 am Post subject:
That's a good idea Marigold, I'm going to phone them and ask if they can deliver organic in glass. I also feel it tastes better from glass.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 8:27 pm Post subject:

I get organic in waxed card (not recylceable) because everything else comes from the delivery company, so I'd have to make a special trip for milk else - we go through lots. I wouldn't mind plastic so much, as there are a million things I can use the bottles for (freezing soup and stocks in, making into soups, putting homemade worm fertiliser in, putting anything that comes in silly packets that fall apart in, like dishwasher salt and porridge oats - why is it that whenever I manage to reduce pakaging, its something that was previously useful

)

Oh - I forgot - my big prioroty is animal welfare, above waste - although I prefer to cut out both, but of the two I think animal welfare is the one that bothers my concience more, so I'd go for organic over local or recyclable. If I know how it was produced then OK, but mostly I don't and organic is the best available.

hils

Joined: 08 Mar 2005
Posts: 568
Location: Nottingham

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 8:49 pm Post subject:

GardenerJ wrote:

That's a good idea Marigold, I'm going to phone them and ask if they can deliver organic in glass. I also feel it tastes better from glass.

It does tase better from a glass bottle straight from the doorstep on a cold spring morning. I can never get my fridge to get that spring morning temperature tho...

My milk man is ace even when I found 23 empty bottles at the back of the recycling cupboard he didn't bat an eye lid when he picked them up the following morning. Int milk ace!

Leonie

Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 731
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 05 9:25 pm Post subject:

Well thank you for all your feedback. I also feel strongly about animal welfare, and as was said earlier the organic option is probably better with having young children. I'll stick with the organic delivery and keep suggesting the glass bottle option for the organic milk. In the meantime I'll keep all the plastic coated card cartons (I call them tetra but not sure that's the correct term) as cane toppers for my allotment and junk modelling materials for the children. I never thought of using the plastic bottles for freezing soups and stocks, the milk I get delivered is in pint size bottles so they're an ideal size, thanks for that suggestion WW.

Trev

Joined: 09 Sep 2005
Posts: 69
Location: Wokingham DC, Berkshire

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 05 12:19 pm Post subject:
The 4 litre plastic milk bottles are also ideal for making a "tray" for draining the engine oil from the sump of the car. Cut a pannel out of one side and one has a "flat enough to fit under the car" container for the sump oil with an inbuilt capped poorer for tranferring the used oil into an uncut plastic milk bottle to go to the oil recyling dump. So, that's 2 down 27,000,000 to go.

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