[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by mi2n

Not a very long time ago, plastics were touted to be the savior of the environment by replacing cardboard and paper packaging which were essentially derived from tree leaves and wood. Thus plastic was bestowed with the honor of protecting the trees and forests. What has changed now? Is paper/cardboard manufactured synthetically today? Or do they still come from felled trees?

If plastic of all things was touted as saviour of trees then that is clearly untruthful propaganda from vested commercial interests. For your own sake I hope you didn't fall for it.

[mi2n]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

If plastic of all things was touted as saviour of trees then that is clearly untruthful propaganda from vested commercial interests. For your own sake I hope you didn't fall for it.

Even if it was "untruthful propaganda from vested commercial interests" it still was actually replacing paper/cardboard packaging which were essentially manufactured from trees. Hence it would have helped reducing deforestation for this purpose. Actually made good sense back in the day.

On the contrary a case can be made that recycling of plastics are harming "vested commercial interests" of prime material suppliers. Plastics, on their own are not the nuisance. It is recyclable in most cases, even if in some cases it might not be commercially viable. E.g. when it is too much heterogeneous or bonded with fillers. The real evil is lack of collection and proper segregation of small plastic items including the so called "single-use" plastics. I find the administrative apathy in this regard rather amusing. We are left at the mercy of the unorganized sector. With modern technologies, recycled plastic granules are becoming uncomfortably competitive for the big petrochemical giants.

Just pondering differently.

[PearlJam]

On the topic of single use plastics, why do we still have milk packets in the 21st century? Why can't milk be made available in bottles? Beer, with all its fizz, is already available in perfectly packaged bottles today, so why not milk

Atleast in Bangalore, milk packets are the norm, and I can only dare to imagine the daily amount of waste generated. I know that bottling might increase the cost a bit initially, but eventually the reuse should pay itself off. Some might say 'the reason is hygiene', but I don't buy that logic - single use plastics also might have a hygiene issue if not properly monitored.

I think fixing this will give us the biggest bang for the buck, in terms of sheer volume of plastic.

[Gannu_1]

Glad to see that the recent Amazon orders were shipped with paper based tape on the cardboard boxes.

I hope they replace the plastic covers with bubble wraps with the cardboard boxes and recycled paper as the cushioning material inside.

[nagarjun]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

On the topic of single use plastics, why do we still have milk packets in the 21st century? Why can't milk be made available in bottles? Beer, with all its fizz, is already available in perfectly packaged bottles today, so why not milk

Atleast in Bangalore, milk packets are the norm, and I can only dare to imagine the daily amount of waste generated. I know that bottling might increase the cost a bit initially, but eventually the reuse should pay itself off. Some might say 'the reason is hygiene', but I don't buy that logic - single use plastics also might have a hygiene issue if not properly monitored.

I think fixing this will give us the biggest bang for the buck, in terms of sheer volume of plastic.

There are some milk vendors like Erden, Happy milk who supply 1litre milk in bottles. They were initially doing with glass bottles, but there is no option of them picking up the old bottle. So they moved to 1 time use plastic bottles

I do hope that we have glass bottles to deliver milk and they picking them back in some way. Maybe a pick up once in a week or something like that.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

On the topic of single use plastics, why do we still have milk packets in the 21st century? Why can't milk be made available in bottles? Beer, with all its fizz, is already available in perfectly packaged bottles today, so why not milk

Agree completely. The long life milk comes in a tetra pack which is recyclable if I understand correctly. In most countries abroad, fresh milk comes in plastic containers which are recyclable. It should not be difficult to make one of these options happen for fresh milk in India.

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

On the topic of single use plastics, why do we still have milk packets in the 21st century? Why can't milk be made available in bottles? Beer, with all its fizz, is already available in perfectly packaged bottles today, so why not milk

Atleast in Bangalore, milk packets are the norm, and I can only dare to imagine the daily amount of waste generated. I know that bottling might increase the cost a bit initially, but eventually the reuse should pay itself off. Some might say 'the reason is hygiene', but I don't buy that logic - single use plastics also might have a hygiene issue if not properly monitored.

I think fixing this will give us the biggest bang for the buck, in terms of sheer volume of plastic.

It's much more expensive to transport milk in glass bottles. And then there's the issue of damage during transit as well. The margin in milk is pretty low to allow making these transition. But as aware consumers, what one can do, is try and shift to local milk vendors, many of whom are now delivering milk through portable vending machines. It is a little inconvenient though as you will have to go out with your utensil whenever the milkman comes just like old days but you also get fresh milk compared to day old milk like in case of packets.
Also, I wouldn't prefer to store and deliver milk in transparent glass bottles as exposure to sunlight reduces the amount of Vit B12 in the milk.
Alsp cleaning glass bottles for reuse is a process which will use lot of water as well and bottling process requires a much more expensive machinery than a plastic film packing machine which can start from 1.5L whereas even a cheap bottling setup starts from upwards of 4L.

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

On the topic of single use plastics, why do we still have milk packets in the 21st century? Why can't milk be made available in bottles? Beer, with all its fizz, is already available in perfectly packaged bottles today, so why not milk

These milk sachets are recycled either at source or by ragpickers in landfills. Collecting and selling the old milk sachets and newspapers in my home was a source of pocket money for me in my school and college days. Now, it serves as small bonus to one of the domestic help.

Best means, I suppose, would be to distribution via the milk cans+liter measure by the milkman, but then convenience and short term economics triumphs long term benefits.