Save The Planet: Buy Big Bags Of Milk
Other countries cut down on the amount of plastic used to package milk by buying it in big plastic bags and storing it in a reusable milk pitcher in the fridge.
This is a nice idea. Pouring milk from a special pitcher would make us feel like some sort of ultimate Martha Stewart-esque homemaking badass.
Bag o'milk is better for the environment [Slashfood]
(Photo:Demnos0813)
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That's good!
Milk balloon fight!
Ummm no.
shoko in a bag is amazing (israeli chocolate milk)
@qwickone: No.
It's American Milk that tastes funny. You guys add more Titanium White paint to yours.
why not just buy it in a carton... then it decomposes.
I can just picture a harried person opening the bag of milk, instead of the bag the bag of milk is in. I also foresee a upswing in paper towel sales.
@Falconfire: I burn all of my half and half cartons. Ashes take up very little space. Especially if you use them in your garden.
We had a milkerator when I was in college,it used these big five-gallon bags of milk with a little tube on the end. The bag goes in a plastic crate, and the tube goes down into the dispenser.
I guess they need to add another definition for "Milk Bags" in the Urban Dictionary...
Actually, it's already there!
My grandparents used to have these all the time in the 1980s. And they lived in the middle of Michigan, nowhere close to Canada. I always liked the idea but admit that even an hour and a half away in my hometown they didn't offer them.
I saw bags of milk when I was in Wisconsin back in 2001! I thought it was a great idea, except that I'm lactose intolerant.
@Shane112358: Since when was the middle of Michigan nowhere close to Canada? As far as I can tell, you don't have to hit any additional states before reaching the northern border from Michigan.
When I was in middle school ,our milk was served in small plastic bags that sort of looked like breast implants-that milk always tasted a bit funky....
I live in WI and have been buying my milk in bags for years. Nothing new here.
I grew up in Ontario, and used these all my life.
My frugal parents washed out those bags and used them as sandwich bags after the milk was finished.
I miss milk in a bag.
The bags I saw were in Milwaukee, which is where I grew up...saw them circa 1993!
anyone who has been to a cafeteria & poured a glass of milk out of one of those gargantuan stainless steel milkscrappers must've seen a worker refill them once - with a bag of milk. not too much different (except the bags could easily double as body bags due to their size.
Those bags don't look like they use much less plastic than the jugs, since the sturdy plastic in those is pretty thin, and these bags must be pretty thick to avoid puncture. Thumbs down.
When I lived in Canada, it seemed like they were phasing out milk in plastic bags and selling more 2 liter plastic cartons of milk. I thought they were just a few decades behind in that department. Guess not.
The revelation that milk was packaged in bags in Canada caused quite a stir on ol' 4Chan.
Just saying...
I knew this was coming. Ever since I went to Canada years ago. First they tried to get us to use metric, now bags of milk. What next?
Damn you all to hell!!!
@Falconfire: I havn't seen actual *milk* in a carton in...god, years now. Always plastic jugs. Soy milk in a carton? Yeah. The milk with the sugar taken out (which I drink the chocolate of, because I'm diabetic but dislike the drinking taste of plain milk)? Yeah. Actual milk? No freakin' way.
I get mine in returnable bottles from a local dairy farm in MA. Its nice to support a local business plus the milk is delicious and seems to last for like 3-4 weeks.
@dualityshift: I've actually been noticing recently that milk's acquired a funny taste anyway, at least here in Maryland. So yay more funny tastes in my milk :p
How is this more environmentally friendly? Noone's going to recycle the bags either. Case in point - my parents are deadset against recycling plastic bags because of the "hassle" of dropping them off in the supermarket bin, but they'll still recycle milk jugs.
It's still plastic. Never mind the fact that it takes up less room than a jug, but it's still plastic and will not decompose. And, supposedly, milk loses nutrients when exposed to some types of light, and those semi-opaque jugs and bags let light in.
Paper Cartons all the way. Pity it's getting harder and harder to find paper carton milk around here these days. The retailers seem in love with plastic jugs, as they don't spill or get cut easily. According to a friend in the grocery business, that's why they don't carry milk in plastic bags much in the USA - they tend to lose their contents a bit too easily.
Meg: Your right. I live down the block from a Cheese factory. My town is named after a type of cow. I can get fresh from the cow milk a mile in any direction. Mmmmmm Cheese
Why dont we just sell the milk inside the cow. When you finish the milk, you eat the cow. Voila --- no waste!
Plastic Jugs, Milk Bags sounds like Calif to me hah hah, seriously though milk in plastic bags? weird, just keep them in paper cartons. OR recycle those plastic jugs...
It is a technique that is being used in many countries. And its not for conserving the milk there, is only for taking it to home and later we passed it to a reusable milk pitcher .
How about how they sell milk in Germany - on the shelf in what looks like a giant juice box. Ultra pasteurized shelf-stable milk is the only way you can get it! No cold milk at all, though cream is still refrigerated. That is how we really should go - more packaging but less product waste since it lasts longer and doesn't go bad until you open the container. Don't get me started on the eggs there...not refrigerated and on the shelf next to the flour and baking ingredients. Weird!
Uh... better make sure that you don't keep them around something sharp...
How much milk in a bag? That looks like a lot of milk, my wife and I probably use less than a gallon a week (I don't like milk but eat plenty of yogurt and cheese)
Hmm would help, except that my house of 4 people barely ever finishes any 2 gallon milk jug by the expatriation date. Who uses that much milk?
We had this in Ohio in the eighties when I was a kid. I used them in Canada in the mid nineties. I think they are a great idea.
Kwik Trip in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois has been selling milk (and OJ) in bags for years and years and years. You can even get a special pitcher and a separate bag cutter contraption free. I worked there in high school, and my family always drank bagged milk at a significant cost savings to us. If I lived closer to a Kwik Trip now, I'd still be drinking bagged milk!
[www.kwiktrip.com]
Wax-cardboard cartons are WAY more popular than the bags in the Toronto area right now ... I don't think we have plastic jugs at all any more, at least not at the stores I go to.
My first milk packaging memories living in Croatia (part of Yugoslavia at the time) were of 1-liter 'baggies' of milk in this cool glass pitcher sitting in our fridge.
Funnily enough, those things vanished from supermarket stores & our fridge not long after Croatia declared independence. Maybe it was some commie trick?
In all seriousness, I wonder how does the 'baggy' packaging compare to cardboard tetrapak in terms of transport durability and cargo space optimization? I won't even consider those plastic jugs, they just suck...
I recall store fridges always had at least 1-2 'burst' baggies on the bottom of the milk case, suggesting they weren't the sturdiest thing ever.
They ought to come up with a way for me to go into the grocery store with an empty container and get it filled with milk. And also the generic store brand juices.
Or at least a way to trade the empty container for a full one. Isn't that what happened with the milkman?
Our local dairy uses (reusable) glass bottles...I wonder how this compares to the environmental costs of plastic jugs/bags? Anyone care to hazard an educated guess?
From what I know, they're not inclined to do that due to risk of product contamination through unsanitary customer container. Imagine the scenario where you buy milk, come home, enjoy some salmonella, manufacturer's milk gets recalled - all because you couldn't properly wash and disinfect your bottle?
@Andr0: Er, that would be in response to Rectilinear PRopagation: They ought to come up with a way for me to go into the grocery store with an empty container and get it filled with milk. And also the generic store brand juices.
@Shane112358: so did mine. it was interesting but not something i'd want as an only option. there are other ways to package milk etc. that can be recyclable.
Judging by how many plastic milk jugs I have dropped in my life, this product would just become a prop in my next inadvertent pratfall.
umm, the internets have known about canadian milk in bags forever.
just sayin
The first time I saw this was in Canada (while visiting relatives). It severely weirded me out. It also tasted different, but it could just be the milk itself and not the packaging.