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Considering Brits drink around 9.3 billion pints of milk per year, Sainsbury's announcement that it's going to start selling milk in bags from tomorrow could potentially be quite a big deal. Like 100,000-tonnes-less-of-plastic-packaging-each-year a big deal. According to Sainsbury's, we would use about 75 per cent less packaging if we got milk in bags instead of polybottles.
This milk bag initiative is similar to the campaigns launched by Daylesford Organics a few years ago and Waitrose and Calon Wen last year. The basic premise is that consumers buy a reusable plastic jug once and then buy their milk in bags to refill the jug. Whereas Daylesford's milk pouch is supposed to be biodegradable (we haven't tried breaking it down), the ones from Calon Wen and Sainsbury's can be recycled just like polybottles.
I generally welcome any green initiative, but I do find it slightly odd that people won't be able to get organic milk in the new bags at Sainsbury's -- just regular. What's that all about? Sainsbury's says organic milk will be available in bags only if they prove to be a success. So drink up, kids!
A bag with two pints of milk will retail at 80p -- the same as two pints of Sainsbury's milk in a polybottle. The jug will set you back £2.49.
10 June 2008 03:17pm
How do these new bags compare, green-wise, to UHT milk-in-a-box? UHT Basics are only 49p/L and can be bought in bulk and saved for months, virtually eliminating wasted/spoilt milk.
10 June 2008 04:52pm
Hi mattgoff,
Do you mean how does a Sainsbury's milk bag compare to a tetra pack (or a similar mixed material carton, which UHT milk-in-a-box usually comes in)?
Or are you after a comparison of "fresh milk in a bag" as whole compared to "UHT milk in a box" as a whole (i.e. milk and packaging combined)?
Best, Rikke
11 June 2008 10:03am
If the jug and milk bags were 1 litre in size, instead of 2 pints, then fruit juices (which are sold in litres) could be sold in bags too.
11 June 2008 10:35am
This idea was in use 30 years ago and it didn't catch on then! Easier to rinse out a rigid container and recycle, the bags will probably end up in general kitchen bin and go to landfill?!
11 June 2008 11:44am
These were in use when I first came to Scotland over thirty years so I am puzzled about why I keep reading that it is a new idea.
They were hated by everyone then except the delivery boys who could throw the bag at the front door from the bottom of the path - many broke of course.
MB
11 June 2008 12:21pm
I have two problems here... first of all jugs are sold in metric sizes these days. What am I supposed to do with the extra that won't fit in my 1 litre jug?
Also, what do I do with the bag? My council recycles bottles but not bags so this will end up adding to landfill.
11 June 2008 01:51pm
I am all for going green and helping out the environment but being a single mother I have to stick to a very tight budget and for me £2.49 for a plastic jug is a tad expensive. Money I can ill afford.
12 June 2008 02:15pm
I hate the attitude that 'i can't afford this'. The reality is that we can't afford to keep producing so much waste. I appreciate that some people have tight budgets, but its £2.49 for a Jug which you can keep!
12 June 2008 08:17pm
We get our milk delivered by the milkman - the bottles are reused, no supermarkets involved and no driving to the shops. I guess there's the electricity used for the milk float and to clean the bottles though - does this make it less green?
14 June 2008 01:05pm
Will Sainsburys and Tesco, etc do the same with their own brand "Gold Blend" coffee, with refill bags, so that I can the numerous glass jars that I have instead of putting them into the re-cycling bin?
Alfred O'Coyle
ajocoyle@googlemail.com
16 June 2008 08:52pm
We use milk in liter bags in Canada, the local 'Dollar Shop' sells a jug you put the bag and all into, then just snip the tip at one corner, and presto you have a jug with pour spout! I reuse the bags as freezer bags, keep all my loose hardware in them and have collected larger bundles of them to recycle. Here in Canada, bagged milk is cheaper than other forms, at 3 liters for $4.69 Canadian dollars.16 june 2008
16 June 2008 08:55pm
Yes -- Yes this is not new -- its the sort of thing used 20 or 30 years ago and it was tried in Switzerland. Didn't work then because it was just fiddly. I really don't know why people keep claim newness when just a little research will show it is not. Also please do not insult people with reference the price. If it is not the right price then don't both people with the idea.. With reference to coffee. Coffee needs a total gas barrier to prevent oxidation and therefore glass and alu foil tops are used. Plastic does not provide a good enough barrier
27 June 2008 05:26pm
Way to go - if we all did this we wouldn't need plastic bags filled with milk and money making schemes like the £2.49 jug. The point is to produce only the products we need if we want to become more sustainable, so why not use a Jug you have at home already...
27 June 2008 05:29pm
The "WAY TO GO" above relates to having your milk delivered in glas bottles.
15 July 2008 05:00pm
Great idea, it's really what's needed, because although the current bottles are recycled, they're not, in most cases, recycled back into milk bottles, which, as well as being a bit pointless, is completely unsustainable.
My one issue with it is that the jug/bags are measured in pints - as well as rendering them almost unusable for any other liquids which could theoretically be sold in bags (orange juice, for example), it also sets this country back again when it comes to metricating (especially when this was such a good opportunity to do so). I'm 15, and at virtually everyone in my class works in litres (and I'd be even more surprised if more than a quarter acutally knew how to convert pints into litres).
Apart from that, though, this is a great idea which the likes of Tesco and Asda need to pick up on (what about getting rid of the plastic containers completely?)
15 July 2008 05:02pm
Correction to my previous comment - in the last sentence (in brackets) I should have said 'plastic bottles', not 'plastic containers'. My mistake :p
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