Saturday, March 24, 2018

Glass Bottles Make A Comeback As People Try To Save The Planet

Glass Bottles

This likely sounds odd to many of you, but some months back, my wife and I just up and decided that we would pour our jugged milk into glass milk bottles.  We perhaps just liked the feel of it and it is possible that the glass has a reconstructive effect as well.  We still buy the milk in jugs and then put the milk into glass bottles to store in the refrigerator. 

It obviously means that i need to pay attention to cleaning those bottles, but that is hardly a forgotten skill for me.

This is the cheap fix that all can easily use.  The milk spends much less time in plastic this way.  You are also set up if you can source raw milk as well.

But yes, i do think that the milk man is coming back and it will also make raw milk available along with fresh fermented products as well. It is still a premium product because it still demands industrial pasturization which needs to be taken back to the farm gate.

Understand that a herd operation today includes industrial quality storage and initial processing anyway.  Adding a truck ride and large tankage and one processing step is not the first choice.  A farm based milk processing machine is surely possible particularly if we change out heat sterilization with alternatives that are available..
 
 
Glass Bottles Make A Comeback As People Try To Save The Planet

Younger consumers and families are willing to pay more for dairy products in glass bottles in order to do right by the environment.

 http://trueorganicandfree.com/glass-bottles-make-comeback-people-try-save-planet/

If you find yourself on a London street in the early hours of the morning, you’d come across a sight that many people haven’t seen in years. Milkmen going from house to house, delivering fresh dairy products in glass bottles to families just waking up from their night’s sleep. Some would have thought that this tradition was just forgotten to the years, but younger generations are bringing it back in the hope to try and better take care of the world we live in.
Return Of The Milkmen

The start of the year saw a surge of new, younger customers looking for different options when it comes to their dairy products. Both UK-wide company milk&more and east London dairy company Parker Dairies have seen increased demand for glass bottles in 2018. The motivating factor? They claim it’s all thanks to David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet II’ that took a devastating look at the effect that plastic has on our environment.

Both companies have said that younger consumers and families are willing to pay more for the service in order to do right by the environment.

Paul Lough, depot manager of Parker Dairies, said that they have received 382 new customers since the beginning of the year, and 95% of those customers are ordering glass milk bottles [1].

“Before Christmas we were taking 30 calls a month, and since New Year we are getting 30 calls a week.” Lough told The Evening Standard.

Both Parker Dairies and milk&more have seen huge surges in customers, with milk&more gaining 2,500 new customers in the last month and around 90% of these customers across the country are ordering the classic glass bottle [1].

The Benefits Of Glass Bottles

Since its creation, plastic has been replacing other storage methods because of how cheap it is to make. But with convenience comes a cost: BPA and other chemicals that leach into the contents of plastic containers. But with glass, that is no longer a problem.

“Glass is made from naturally abundant materials — primarily sand — and it won’t degrade over time,” says Scott Radcliffe, a spokesman for glass-bottle manufacturer Lifefactory [2]. Plus, “glass can last for decades,” he says.
Unlike plastic, and to a lesser extent metal, glass doesn’t alter the flavor or smell of whatever it holds. If you’ve ever used a stainless steel beverage container, you know that whatever you put in there can sometimes have a bit of a metallic taste. But with glass containers this isn’t an issue.

But the main draw is the fact that glass is so reusable, and this is what has brought so many people back to the old tradition of using the glass bottles. And companies like milk&more will take the empty glass bottles, replacing them with filled ones, to be reused. A glass bottle can be used up to 20 times before being recycled [3].

It’s clear that even though we have made progress in so many fields like technology and medicine, some of the old ways are still the best. So in 2018, say goodbye to the past and plastic milk containers and hello to the future: glass.

Sources:
  1. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/milkmen-are-returning-to-london-as-millennials-order-glass-milk-bottles-in-a-bid-to-slash-plastic-a3774646.html
  2. http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/chi-glass-bottles-advantage20140331-story.html
  3. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blue-planets-plastic-warning-delivers-boost-for-milkmen-7738fts52
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