Why I love milk bags

Milk bags are far superior to standard milk cartons. Priscilla Pollara explains why.

Milk has languished at the bottom of paper cartons, glass bottles and large plastic pint tubs for years. But have you ever thought about drinking your milk out of a bag?

The demise of the milkman

Ever since the UK turned its back on supporting impecunious dairy farmers and terminated the majority of orders for their trusty blue and red capped glass bottles of milk (milkmen-sold milk has decreased starkly from 80% in the 1980s, to a currently dwindling 10% today), it has grown accustomed to importing the white stuff from other European countries.

As a result, the British dairy industry has struggled in resurrecting itself; it simply can’t beat the prices of the cheaper, mainland produce of which we take vast delivery every year.

But if neglect of our own farmers wasn’t bad enough, the large plastic tanks in which the endless litres are transported, prove an altogether bigger problem.

Firstly, this mode of transfer is said to decrease the quality of milk by the time it enters the UK. It has also, over time, sparked an obsession for over-sized supermarket-branded plastic four-pint containers, which we are all guilty of buying.

Their good value means they often triumph over the smaller packaged varieties – a problem, in turn, that makes it harder to consume the contents ahead of the best before dates. (After all, not everyone enjoys the taste of long-living Danish Cravendale-type milk).

The containers, however, contribute to a lot of waste.

As a nation - according to This is Dairy Farming – we drink an estimated 5 billion litres of milk every year (whether it’s foreign, or not). Imagining just how many endless paper cartons and bottles are thrown away after this sort of usage, makes one shudder.

An alternative at last

This is where the milk bag comes in. It does not promise to single-handedly solve the sorry state of the milk industry in this country, but it does go some way into helping it along – while reducing waste, too.

So, the milk bag. It sounds a little unattractive, let alone fiddly. But it’s not. Essentially, a bag (made of durable, low-density plastic) is placed inside a jug. When the lid snaps shut, it pierces a hole at the top (it is securely fastened by the tight lid) and the milk pours perfectly from the container’s spout. Sounds easy, and it really is. (It comes with its own instruction manual).

The most prevalent of jugs available to buy are designed by JugIt, a company that has helped save the milk-in-jug project after an early attempt proved inconvenient through its leaking spout and non-user friendly parts.

The handle is thick, stable and can be clipped on or off depending on how one prefers to use the jug. The spout is now bigger and allows for a good flow of milk to come from the bottle, while the clips are strong enough to ensure the bag doesn’t slip inside and spill on worktops and in fridges.

All in all, they use around 75% less packaging than normal bottles.

But the very best thing about JugIt? You only need to buy it once.

Increasing popularity

As it stands, the milk bag sector only makes up a small section of the UK milk-consumer industry. But its devotees are fast multiplying.

You will find them on sale at most large Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s supermarkets. They’re available on Ocado, too.

Tesco stock Country Life milk bags on their shelves, as do Asda, but neither supermarket can be far off from providing their customers with their own-brand kind.

In fact, they need only look at rival Sainsbury’s to see how well their milk bags are received in store. After selling them for two years, popularity has steadily soared. According to MySupermarket 3% of its 24 million weekly customers, the equivalent of 720,000 shoppers, have switched to regularly using bags.

“For every one in ten milk containers bought,” a Sainsbury’s representative tells me, “a milk bag is sold. It’s taken a while to encourage people to try it out and realise it’s not at all difficult to use. But I think curiosity has helped it along and now when customers buy one to try at home, they rarely go back to their original bottle.”

International stage

It may seem modern, if not American in its design, but in fact, milk bags and their accompanying reusable containers have been popular in most European countries and indeed in China, India and Canada for several decades.

In Africa, non-recyclable milk bags have been prevalent for over 30 years: in the absence of a special jug, the bag gets cut and poured into standard jugs for storing and pouring.

Looking to the future

Currently, Sainsbury’s is selling two 2 pint milk bags for 80p in a special offer which, compared to 86p bottle for the same amount, is a steal of a deal. (The jug retails at £1.98).

Now would be an ideal time to try this new milk-drinking mechanism.

If I had a negative to pick out over its design and usage, it would be that it’s almost impossible to take a sniff at the spout and pick up anything other than the clean smell of plastic. We’re all guilty of keeping milk for too long in fridges, and the barrier between your nose and the liquid sitting in the jug, can make it a little hard to test without pouring a drop out. Over time, I’m confident this minor issue will be improved.

Milk bags will hardly be able to restore longevity into the British dairy farming industry all on their own, but crucially, the milk that is being sold in them does in fact come from our very own farms. In a way, therefore, they encourage more of us to stay away from exported milk and help support our own cause.

Some positivity has already come of this ‘revolution’: Sainsbury’s supplier, Dairy Crest, has had to erect a new processing plant in Gloucestershire to meet buyers’ demands – and as a result, has created up to 20 more positions of employment.

Apart from being eco-friendly and cheap, drinking milk from a bag and jug, is new and fun. And if it’s not your thing? Revert back to the original and keep the jug for other uses.

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