Is there a long term future for plastic milk bottles ?

[westwards]

Given all the talk about plastics in the last few months since The Blue Planet programe highlighted the state of the oceans with plastic, is there not likely to be pressure on processors to cut down the use of plastic and go back to using glass bottles or cardboard cartons.
If this were to happen there would be more need for smaller regional daries to be able to reuse the glass.

 

[llamedos]

There was an article on one of the news channel just the other day on exactly this subject, and one or two who were on the ball were doing just that and returning to glass.
But, from a delivery and a home using pov plastics are just so easy.

 

[ollie989898]

They are cheap and easily recycled.

The bulk of the plastics in the Oceans arrives there from being washed out to sea where people in Asia use the rivers as dumping grounds.

 

[Bald Rick]

Going to make storing colostrum in the freezer harder
2 litre milk bottles are ideal for this job

 

[Will Blackburn]

It's far more environmentally efficient to recycle the plastic than wash the glass. We would go back to shorter best before dates as well so putting some consumers off.

 

[Err0l]

Going to make storing colostrum in the freezer harder
2 litre milk bottles are ideal for this job

Nooooooooooooooooooooo they take all night to defrost. I use big freezer bags and freeze them flat.

 

[Clay52]

Going to make storing colostrum in the freezer harder
2 litre milk bottles are ideal for this job

Ideal?? Slow to defrost, very difficult to clean and take up too much space to store.

 

[Horn&corn]

Freeze colostrum in a 2 litre lemonade bottle. Put in 1 litre of colostrum and squash flat before freezing. Takes no time to thaw and throw bottle away. Get kids addicted to fizz or employee a student that drinks a bottle a day! Hyper but no teeth!

 

[Clay52]

Freeze colostrum in a 2 litre lemonade bottle. Put in 1 litre of colostrum and squash flat before freezing. Takes no time to thaw and throw bottle away. Get kids addicted to fizz or employee a student that drinks a bottle a day! Hyper but no teeth!

An idea. Give employees free caffeinated bottles of fizzy. Extra productivity and colostrum bottles, throw in recycle bin when done. End up cheaper than the perfect udder colostrum bags.

 

[Exfarmer]

They are cheap and easily recycled.

The bulk of the plastics in the Oceans arrives there from being washed out to sea where people in Asia use the rivers as dumping grounds.

Yes but most if the plastic they are dumping is the stuff we are sending from Europe.

 

[Forgottenben]

We have a micro dairy and use glass bottles. While yes there’s less waste they do use a lot of water to wash. People are making drama about conserving water so it seems like it balances out

 

[onesiedale]

The thing about milk containers is that they get used in the home. Recycling from the home is very easy, Consumers do the sorting the it goes into the authorities network/chain of collection and disposal.
So it doesn't matter if it's glass or plastic. It's just that glass does have a significant cost involved with washing. (Processors cost)
The big problem with recycling drinks containers is when they are consumed outside the home.

 

[doithuy93]

Use aforcli's reusable silicone or PEVA material bags. it's perfect for enviroment ! High quality bags, thick, strong and heavy duty, suitable for storing from fresh veggies to frozen foods. Think about how many plastic bags you could save by switching to use this supplemental silicone bags. I highly recommend this to you and I will also buy a smaller size for my future need from Aforcli.
Great way to reduce our use of plastic!

 

[upnortheast]

It's far more environmentally efficient to recycle the plastic than wash the glass.

I`ve seen a figure quoted that over 75% poly bottles are recycled
Like everything it`s not a black & white issue. that the media make it to be
I did the calculation to go glass & the added weight would mean we had to put an extra van on the road - Blowing out of the water any envirenmental advantage from going glass
Depends on the market -
Glass bottles - Ideal for the "doorstep Trade" - good chance of getting the bottles returned
Shops. Many don`t like / don`t have storage of glass empties
Caterers / Coffee shops etc . would you want 30 2 litre plastic or 120 1pint glass bottles to store ?
Cardboard cartons (Pergals ) cost more than glass or plastic & the user needs a proper dispenser

We have a customer in Ncl who has put in a vending machine. Selling circa 350 litres a week. We deliver in stainless churns. The punters buy their bottle , or bring their own. Works well

 

[ollie989898]

I`ve seen a figure quoted that over 75% poly bottles are recycled
Like everything it`s not a black & white issue. that the media make it to be
I did the calculation to go glass & the added weight would mean we had to put an extra van on the road - Blowing out of the water any envirenmental advantage from going glass
Depends on the market -
Glass bottles - Ideal for the "doorstep Trade" - good chance of getting the bottles returned
Shops. Many don`t like / don`t have storage of glass empties
Caterers / Coffee shops etc . would you want 30 2 litre plastic or 120 1pint glass bottles to store ?
Cardboard cartons (Pergals ) cost more than glass or plastic & the user needs a proper dispenser

We have a customer in Ncl who has put in a vending machine. Selling circa 350 litres a week. We deliver in stainless churns. The punters buy their bottle , or bring their own. Works well
View attachment 856516

Your customer, get them to sell old fashioned 2L 'hand churns' in stainless steel with a handle and lid, and have their logo embossed on it. Sell them to the customers for whatever they cost- be a marketing dream.

 

[upnortheast]

They have something similar, doesn`t seem to be a huge demand.
Have their logo on their glass bottles

 

[Springrove]

I`ve seen a figure quoted that over 75% poly bottles are recycled
Like everything it`s not a black & white issue. that the media make it to be
I did the calculation to go glass & the added weight would mean we had to put an extra van on the road - Blowing out of the water any envirenmental advantage from going glass
Depends on the market -
Glass bottles - Ideal for the "doorstep Trade" - good chance of getting the bottles returned
Shops. Many don`t like / don`t have storage of glass empties
Caterers / Coffee shops etc . would you want 30 2 litre plastic or 120 1pint glass bottles to store ?
Cardboard cartons (Pergals ) cost more than glass or plastic & the user needs a proper dispenser

We have a customer in Ncl who has put in a vending machine. Selling circa 350 litres a week. We deliver in stainless churns. The punters buy their bottle , or bring their own. Works well
View attachment 856516

Them machines are quiet expensive!

last year we bottled and returned a client base of 20 families for trial run,

had 100 bottles in circulation for 4months new lids each week!
These were washed by customer and rinsed again before filling


worked well but the stainless steel would be better and less likely to break!

Have you priced 5-10Litre stainless containers?

 

[upnortheast]

Them machines are quiet expensive!

The one in the pic was £6500.
We reckon 150 litres a week over 3 years cover capital + running costs
The ones with card reader / cash box & other bells & whistles are about £10k

Have you priced 5-10Litre stainless containers?

We use 20 litre ones for our ice cream customers.- about £70 each

 

[Tim G]

Them machines are quiet expensive!

last year we bottled and returned a client base of 20 families for trial run,

had 100 bottles in circulation for 4months new lids each week!
These were washed by customer and rinsed again before filling


worked well but the stainless steel would be better and less likely to break!

Have you priced 5-10Litre stainless containers?

Be interested to hear a few more details about your trial.
We keep getting asked about using glass bottles, but not really sure if it's possible with the system we run. The unfortunate issue with plastic is that many people think it just gets chucked in the sea, and can't see past that to realise that there is a greater environmental cost with glass. This is best explained by one customer who turned up from nearby Colchester to buy milk. She was very disappointed that we didn't have glass bottles and we refused to fill the bottle she had bought with her. She had been driving probably 50 miles each way to buy milk from a farm that do glass bottles, and continues to now because she doesn't want to use plastic.

 

[Springrove]

The one in the pic was £6500.
We reckon 150 litres a week over 3 years cover capital + running costs
The ones with card reader / cash box & other bells & whistles are about £10k


We use 20 litre ones for our ice cream customers.- about £70 each

£6500 very good,

Who supplies them?

How do they fill? Any video or pics??

£70 is very good for them
Do you also have that supplier!??

Thanks

People are mad about the Glass bottles

Only 1litre tho, the pint ones are a pain