The traditional way your milk used to get delivered. The glass bottle was used for decades, holding 1 pint or in modern terms, 568ml, and sealed with a foil pressed top - they were once the only way to get your milk delivered (unless we're talking about the milk churn!)
Glass is a hard tough material which means unlike plastic it
won't readily scratch, deform or split over time. Glass is also
highly resistant to chemical attack and damage due to high temperatures.
All these factors combined allow glass milk bottles to be reused after going
through a process called a bottle wash.
Glass can be reused many times before needing to be recycled. Glass milk bottles are 100% recyclable and doing so takes less energy than creating new glass. Glass can also be recycled indefinitely without quality loss. Glass like plastic does not biodegrade; however unlike plastic one crucial difference is that glass breaks down into natural compounds which are safe and stable and which don't release harmful chemicals into the soil.
Reduce your plastic consumption by choosing to get your milk delivered in Glass bottles. We now provide the full range of milk in Glass; Whole, Semi-Skimmed & Skimmed, with organic varieties of the above also.
The next step is to resuse where possible. Here glass is the clear winner as it can be resused many times simply by being washed. Plastic bottles can't be reused as they can not withstand the washing process and can not be properly sterilised.
Once the material has been reused as many times as possible it is time to recycle it. Glass can be recycled indefinetly with no degradation, whereas plastic can only be recycled a limited number of times.
Once the product has been recycled as many times as is possible it is time for disposal. Glass shouldn't have this problem, however even when glass does find it's way to the landfill; it is a lot better for the environment compared to plastics. Plastics on the other hand can cause serious environmental harm - leeching chemicals and potentially breaking down into microplastics causing damage to marine and wildlife.
The average number of times a glass milk bottle is reused (washed and refilled) before it is sent off to be recycled.
Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled indefinetly with no loss of quality or structure.
The percentage of milk drinkers in the UK who get their milk delivered in glass bottles today.
1 Pint of milk is equivalent to 568ml, or slightly more than half a litre. If you want to accurately calculate how many glass pints you'll need to replace your plastics, use the tool below:
Simply rinse your bottles and place them out in your delivery or collection basket and your milkman will collect them on your next delivery day.