New Milk Jugs: Cheaper and Greener

Wal-Mart and Costco have adopted a new, more environmentally sound style of milk jug. The new jugs are facing both rave reviews and rants from customers. Most like the significant savings — Sam’s Club is able to knock up to 20 cents off the cost of a gallon of milk with the reduced materials necessary to produce the new jugs.

But many customers find the new jugs much more difficult to pour. Dairy owner Mike Compston told The New York Times that consumers must change their pouring technique: it’s a “rock-and-pour instead of a lift-and-tip.” Milk buyers are still struggling though — the new containers are easy to spill.

But there are plenty of benefits to the new milk jugs: they’re cheaper to produce, greener and more sanitary. When filling the older style of jug, dairies went through hundreds of thousands of gallons of water a day just to clean off the crates the jugs are stored in — the crates tend to be a favorite target of neighboring birds. But the new jugs are stackable and don't require crates — or the water needed to clean them. The environmental aspects of just that difference are tremendous.

Now, it’s just a matter of convincing shoppers to adapt.

Photo — Striatic