How should I buy my milk? Carton or plastic jug? ?

Question

Which is the most energy efficient?

Is it better to recycle the plastics or send the carton to the land fill (we don't have a recycling facility that recycles milk cartons)?

I would imagine it takes a lot of energy to recycle plastics... or should I let nature decompose the carton?

I have a small child so I go through a lot of milk.

Answer 1

Plastic gallon jugs.  Cartons only come in quarts.

The ratio of surface area (what gets thrown away) to volume (what is consumed) decreases with the larger size.

So the larger the container, the more volume per surface area, and less gets thrown away per glass of milk.

Answer 2

I have to go with the plastic jug because it can be reused a multitude of times for a multitude of different uses and still be 100% recyclable.

Answer 3

So technically, buying milk at all is not good for the environment. Factory farming is the leading green house gas contributor, not to mention all the green house gases released by the shipping process. ie: trucks and trains. So my thoughts are that for your milk consumption to be as "green" as possible, the first step you should take is buying a local brand that hasn't been trucked 3000 miles. You can usually find local farmers' products at a farmers market or a locally owned health foods store. Now to answer your question directly... definitely buy your milk in cartons. Plastic is petroleum based, which means its made with oil. As we all know, oil is becoming less and less available. And the main reason for you to not buy plastic is your health. Plastic actually releases known carcinogens into the milk, water, juice... whatever. Milk cartons can be reused,as well. Here's an article giving lots of ideas:  http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Answer 4

I also buy milk in returnable glass bottles. The milk is also produced locally and considered organic.

Answer 5

if i was to buy milk i would go for plastic

Answer 6

I would go with the plastic rather than the carton, because of the landfill issue.  Although they're not recyclable, most milk cartons wouldn't break down too easily, so they'd be in the landfill for a long time.

You could also try to reduce the impact on the environment by finding a way to re-use the plastic jugs, rather than just recycling them.  Buying locally will cut down on the amount of carbon emissions from transportation, too.

Answer 7

why don't you just best feed your child. use what nature gave you

if it feels weired to best feed an 1 year old child... then use a best pump to get the milk in bottles,

to answer your question... to save money i would go for the plastic jugs but to save the environment i would use milk cartons

Answer 8

For safety, I would go with the milk carton, a plastic milk jug is made out of petroleum and that does leach into the food, there are many chemicals that go into making a plastic milk jug and these chemicals are now know to cause health problems.  I'm not sure if PBA (chemical)  is in a milk jug,it is in a lot of other plastic food items, but if it is you should definitely go with a carton.  

Answer 9

I don't know where you live, but where I live there are stores (byrne dairy) that sell milk in refillable glass bottles, the first time you buy the milk you pay a deposit for the bottle, after that you bring the empty bottles back and all you have to pay is the cost of the milk, I would imagine if you do a little research in your area you could find a store that sells the glass bottles (if you live in a good size area) if you cant find the glass jugs I would go with the plastic, even though it takes a lot to manufacture and recycle, the cardboard is usually plastic or wax coated so it would take a long time for it to break down in the land fill, as one of the other answers said you can also reuse the plastic jugs before you recycle them.  

Answer 10

plastic at this point. most recycle facilities won't take the carton.  

Answer 11

visit http://ecofriendlyvibes.blogspot.com