General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMilk is about to get expensive, because of the containers
I stopped by Winco Foods yesterday on the way home from work, and visited the dairy department.
I found a letter from Darigold, the milk company in my area, taped to all the coolers.
Plastic milk jugs are made of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic. Their jug manufacturer's resin supplier's plant is located in Texas - and shut down because of the cold snap. As a result, there is a severe shortage of HDPE resin on the market.
Darigold has declared Force Majeure, which will allow them to raise prices as high as they need to.
msongs
(67,421 posts)Tree Lady
(11,479 posts)Show on recycling last night we should return to glass for all drinks and make companies reuse.
Hugh_Lebowski
(33,643 posts)Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)I can get a half-gallon of milk in a returnable glass bottle at my local grocery store.
alwaysinasnit
(5,066 posts)milk in glass bottles from local dairies. The half gallon runs about $5 with a $1 returnable deposit. I can definitely taste the difference.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Smaller dairy glass bottles are $2 deposit for quart or half gallon.
I'm planning on going to this exclusively as I want to get way from plastic where I can.
And it is not homogenized.
I drink nonfat so that is not an issue.
jimfields33
(15,836 posts)frazzled
(18,402 posts)I dont drink much milk, frankly (just put it on cereal or use it in cooking), but when I do, I find the milk in plastic jugs smells/tastes kinda skanky to me. Paper cartons dont do that.
And yeah, I remember the glass half gallons of milk the milkman used to leave in the metal box outside our house when I was a kid. You can still get glass containers of milk, but they are from small independent dairies and pretty pricey.
KT2000
(20,585 posts)why Darigold milk lasts longer than other brands?
IcyPeas
(21,894 posts)Better than plastic.
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)Less weight means a truck can carry more milk.
2naSalit
(86,660 posts)For milk drinkers. I rarely use it in cooking and I use 1/2 & 1/2 but it comes in paper cartons.
tapper
(141 posts)The one particular brand (dont recall name off hand, sorry) is available at the local Dillons, as well as at the coop store. Half-gallon bottles have a $2.75 deposit, which can make it seem really expensive if you forgot to bring the old bottle back.
I believe most of the other organic milk brands available use the cardboard containers.
I would think that a conventional milk brand would be constrained to go no higher than organics...
What would concern me about this shortage for plastic bottles is, will bottling constraints ripple back to the farmers? If a production facility decides it has to cut the amount of milk coming in, thats going to result in milk being thrown away.
PortTack
(32,779 posts)Seems a good time to switch!
Cows milk is for baby cows
Demovictory9
(32,462 posts)enki23
(7,789 posts).
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)but those enzymes remain functional for a substantial minority of the human population into adulthood.
obamanut2012
(26,083 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)My life would not be complete without cheese and ice cream.
NutmegYankee
(16,200 posts)As can most people of Western European descent. We carry the genes in our DNA to digest it for life.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)demtenjeep
(31,997 posts)their rootbeer milk tastes just like a rootbeer float.
mmmm so good
brooklynite
(94,624 posts)...produced by multiple companies.
I find it hard to believe that Darigold has a monopoly in your community.
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)...but most of them are made by Darigold. I know Walmarts milk is usually made by Dean Foods, but it makes a lot of sense to buy your house-brand milk from the closest creamery...which, up here, is Darigold.
And in this case it doesnt matter...if Darigold is having trouble getting jugs because theres no HDPE being made, so is everyone else. I guess they could fly the resin in from China, but air freight on a cheap product like that would double the resin price.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)Most production of resin and related materials was down early Feb. 19, with several producers declaring force majeure or otherwise limiting sales through allocations. On Feb. 18, research firm ICIS of Houston estimated that almost 90 percent of U.S. polypropylene resin production was offline. The firm also placed outages for linear low density polyethylene at 54 percent, LDPE at 51 percent, high density PE at 42 percent and PVC at 16 percent.
In feedstocks, ICIS estimated 65 percent of U.S. ethylene production was down, as well as almost 50 percent of propylene and 23 percent of vinyl chloride monomer. "At present, authorities have not been able to give a timeline for full power to be restored to the state power system," ICIS said in a Feb. 18 report.
...
"The uncertain timeline for power to be restored to the state and the time necessary to bring production units back online and ramp up output means that supplies could be constrained in the country for weeks," the ICIS report added.
...
PP makers that have declared force majeure include LyondellBasell Industries, Ineos Olefins & Polymers and Flint Hills Resources, according to letters obtained by PN. Celanese Corp. also has declared force majeure on acetal resins. ExxonMobil Chemical has closed its Beaumont and Baytown plants in Texas because of freezing weather conditions, coupled with the curtailment of natural gas supplies throughout Texas, a company spokesman said in an email to PN. ExxonMobil makes polyethylene resin and ethylene feedstock at both locations. It also makes polypropylene resin in Baytown and propylene feedstock in Beaumont.
https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/texas-ice-cold-shut-down-resin-operations
This is really good news for the environment.
tanyev
(42,577 posts)I wonder if that will be affected?
BY: LISA JACKSON
JUNE 20, 2018 | 8:29 AM
Oh, Canada! As proud Canucks, we certainly have our share quirky traits and tastes, from profusely apologizing with soar-ee to our love of ketchup chips, butter tarts and poutine. But did you know that bagged milk is also a uniquely Canadian invention?
Believe it or not, milk bags have been in Canadian fridges since the 1970s, selling mainly in Ontario, Québec and the Maritimes. Each package contains three un-resealable plastic pouches filled with milk, equaling 4 litres in total. Insert a single bag into a pitcher, snip off the corner and start pouring. Then put the pitcher back in the fridge, until you need it next.
https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/blog/why-do-canadians-drink-bagged-milk/
jmowreader
(50,560 posts)Those are probably either low-density polyethylene (which comes from the same place as HDPE) or polyethylene terephtalate (aka polyester) which comes from a factory in Fayetteville, NC. If its the latter, youd have to hope DAK Americas is getting their feedstocks from somewhere besides Texas.