Milk delivered to the gate in glass is making a come back

Forums › Off topic › Milk delivered to the gate in glass is making a come back

kingdragonfly

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#228893 28-Jan-2018 14:29

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/97600838/milk-delivered-to-the-gate-in-glass-is-making-a-come-back

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"The sound of the bottles clattering in the milk truck and milk delivered to letterboxes in glass used to be a thing of the past.

But one Nelson company has brought it all back helping to divert an estimated six tonnes of plastic bottles from landfill this year alone.

Milk producers Oaklands Milk and milkman Milk & More Nelson have been delivering glass bottled milk to businesses and homes around the top of the south since last April.

The glass bottles are able to be collected and re-used like the good old days.

Oaklands Milk farmer Julian Raine estimated he was selling 1800 litres of milk in glass a day. This included home and business deliveries in re-useable glass bottles and people buying direct from his vending machines.

He believed consumers buying his milk in glass had saved over half a million plastic bottles going into landfill just in 2017."

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http://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-wales-north-east-wales-42798408/milkman-inundated-with-calls-for-milk-in-glass-bottles

Saw a similar story today on the BBC

"More demand for milk in glass bottles

Cardiff milkman says environmental concerns have triggered demand for milk in glass bottles."

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#1947845 28-Jan-2018 14:36

still remember milk in bottles , how it used to sit out in the sun and the taste when you had to drink it. Dont miss it.

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coffeebaron

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#1947846 28-Jan-2018 14:42

We get our milk in a crate of glass bottles from a farm :)

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Aredwood

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#1947856 28-Jan-2018 15:18

Doesn't the council in the Nelson area operate a recycling service?

gehenna

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#1947857 28-Jan-2018 15:31

Bottle milk was the best when it had an inch of cream at the top :)

Behodar

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#1947860 28-Jan-2018 15:46

I vaguely remember glass bottles (and the little holder that they came in) but later on they were delivering plastic bottles. Then it changed from once a day to every second day. Then I think it went down to twice a week. And now, of course, it's nonexistent (in my area).

As for environmental concerns, a couple of years ago there was a big song-and-dance at work about switching to milk in bags since they're much easier to recycle. It didn't last very long; apparently the company (I think it was Meadow Fresh) stopped doing it.

Geektastic

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#1947892 28-Jan-2018 16:28

I used to work for a dairy farmer who delivered milk like this. It was great - if we visited the farm (he owned 4) where the bottling plant was, we would grab as many bottles as we wanted from the cold store and chug them!

When I were a lad, and my parents left me home (aged around 16 onwards) when they went on holiday with my younger brothers, I used the milkman as a handy supplier of bread, eggs, orange juice and cheese because I could whack it on the parental bill to make up for the lack of cash they'd given me to live off while they were away!

I doubt we'll see it here in the rural Wairarapa but I hope we do.

Edit - just thought of another milk bottle related jape. As youngsters we used to go and stay with my paternal grandfather, who lived in a grand art deco apartment building. There were only 2 or 3 apartments on each floor. Milk was delivered in bottles and each day people would put out a wire bottle carrier with the empties. On the front was a pointer you could move to say how many bottles you wanted that day.

We used to sneak out and race up and down the stairs, moving all the pointers to 6...! ;-)

Kiwifruta

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#1947919 28-Jan-2018 18:38

I used to run around the streets delivering milk to the letterboxes, was great job to keep fit.

zxspectrum

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#1947931 28-Jan-2018 19:30

Bottled milk deliveries - takes me back to the good old days. I am all for it making a comeback. Anything that reduces plastic use is good by me. Pretty sure milk tastes better in glass as well :)

spencer

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#1947935 28-Jan-2018 20:11

I remember glass bottle delivery well. Grew up in a small village in Staffordshire and the milk had tinfoil lids that were often punctured by birds going after the cream on top.

We also had a coal delivery in winter. Different times.

gehenna

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#1948038 29-Jan-2018 09:39

Nothing as good as hearing the clinking of the bottles as they made their way to your letterbox.

freitasm

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#1948044 29-Jan-2018 09:55

When I was a kid, in another country, a few decades ago, one of the farmers would go around the city on a horse cart, filling the bottles using a milk ladle...

scuwp

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#1948049 29-Jan-2018 10:14

Niche market that will never take off again on a large scale. Aren't plastic milk bottles recycled? Not sure what the landfill/waste comments are about.

Growing up in small town NZ I remember the deliveries well. Putting out the right money (I vaguely recall plastic tokens at some point - perhaps to stop the cash being nicked?) then later we had large colored plastic labels we clipped to the carrier indicating what we wanted and how many.

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gehenna

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#1948053 29-Jan-2018 10:19

My dad used to deliver milk around some villages in Ireland on horse and cart in the 60s. I think that was a few years before they got electricity, but they definitely had whiskey.

jjnz1

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#1948055 29-Jan-2018 10:45

I am in favour of this... I would buy 1 bottle per day or every other day..

Plastic can be recycled, but depending on your council/area, and the cleanliness of the bottles, they may just get thrown out or shipped off to another country.

At least with glass, we are not supporting the plastic industry, and they are recycled/reused locally.

Someone needs to start a petition page...

tdgeek

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#1948057 29-Jan-2018 10:50

gehenna:

Bottle milk was the best when it had an inch of cream at the top :)

But now you can buy milk that looks and tastes like it has 4 inches of water added to the carton!

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