ponderings from the dairy aisle

[cellio]

Most of the time (where I shop), milk comes in plastic containers. Occasionally, it comes in the waxy cardboard ones instead. Last night I actually had a choice, and realized I don't know which one is more green. Plastic can be recycled (good) and the cardboard can't, but I have the impression that producing the plastic container is more destructive to the environment -- and, of course, you also have to factor in the costs of recycling. Trash in a landfill also imposes a cost, and means that cost of production is borne entirely by one use. Overall, I don't know which one is less bad.

Which would you buy?

Comments

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

We take our empty one gallon jar to Freeman Farms just down the road from us and pick up the full jar that we left the last time. :) :) It's raw milk, but we have a pasteurizer that we picked up on E-bay. However, to answer your question, we get our orange juice in paper cartons rather than plastic jugs because we use the cartons to hold compost. When the carton is full, the compost goes on the compost pile, and the carton goes in the burn barrel.
-- Dagonell

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

So, a balanced internal economic decision. (Sorry, Duncan has been talking every night about his econ class, and I'm afraid at the moment it's coloring my view of everything!)