So for my first specific post I thought I would start with an easy and obvious one, glass milk bottles.
My parents went back to using their local milk man a years ago and I will be honest I viewed it as quaint and maybe a bit retro. It made sense, they no longer had me or my brother at home and so did not need huge flagons of milk on hand. But I know my Mam was also conscious of the plastic waste. I think they wouldn’t deny though that they enjoy knowing their local milk man and when he knocks on a Thursday evening they jump up with money in hand and get ready for a nice chat. And there is something about the dairy orange juice, just tastes yummy.
However it is something I have only just got round to sorting out myself, I have been focused for the last couple of years on moving house and now we are in, what is hopefully our forever family home, I want to put down roots. I want to be part of my community and support local businesses.
How I got started- First I went out to the locals on my Facebook page asking if anyone knew who my local milk man might be and how I could contact him. The reactions varied, some people thought it was funny (partly because I live next door to a Premier Shop) and others didn’t understand why I wanted to do this. I explained I was wanting to switch to glass bottles to reduce our one use plastic, most interest ended there.
I suspect my blog and other parts of my ‘eco journey’ will elicit a similar response but awareness is half the battle. Creating the blog though is a way of people accessing it if THEY want, I have learnt many times that preaching something often results in resistance rather than compliance. People need to want to do it for themselves, some times doing it for the rest of the world is not enough.
A fellow friend on a similar journey told me about the website Find Me A Milk Man, and hey presto after entering my post code a slightly confusing list of dairies and suppliers appeared. I suppose expecting it to say Bob from down the road with his telephone number was a bit un-realistic.
Rather than ringing round the list of telephone numbers provided, instead I went on the website of the top search result and based on their location and website information I e-mailed with a general enquiry. I asked do you cover my area? Do you provide Skimmed milk in glass bottles and if so how much is it?
How I got on- I got a response 3 days later with everything I needed:
– Name of my milk man (I am sure there are milk ladies too)
– Days of the week he delivers to my area and the time
– A list of products available and prices (eggs and orange juice included)
– Information on payment options and time scales (including bacs online woo hoo)
I replied with my full address and order. On Friday, as promised we woke up to 3 glass bottles of cool skimmed milk. It was nice seeing how excited my daughter was to open the door and see if the milk man had been. I think she enjoyed her cereal a bit more than usual.
We have opted for the bacs online option, as much as I would love the social interaction my parents get from the milkman calling for the money, for us it is just not practical. We both work and it is unlikely we would be in when they called and it is very rare we have actual cash in the house.
I mentioned it to a friend of mine and she signed up too starting on the same day. Unfortunately they did get her order slightly wrong and neither of us have had the actual bank account details for the bacs payment. I intend to chase them up for the information if not received with my next order. She was panicking slightly, as she doesn’t like owing money, she prefers to pay upfront. I laughed, I suspect the worst they might do if we don’t pay is egg the house?
Helpfully the use by date is printed into the foil lid (which can be put in your normal recycling).
My husband pointed out we should probably get a milk crate to stop the empties rolling away etc. I saw that as the go ahead to google milk crates and had my heart set on a £30 vintage metal one. That was immediately shot down, I decided instead to purchase a wood one from Hobby Craft for £7.00 product link. It is described as a wooden bottle holder. I wanted this rather than a crate as I like the handle for carrying the full bottles into the house. So of course this is now my next craft project. It needs a couple of holes drilled in the bottom for rain water and the plan is to paint it in outdoor paint to weather proof it a bit.
So there we are, reasonably simple to do. I am sure each person’s experience with this will differ based on where they live but so far so good for us. Int Milk Brilliant! Click for some 90s nostalgia
I am going to attempt to do a review for each new thing I try based on my own personal criteria, I will write a separate post with more detail on this but below is the one for glass milk bottles.
Leave me a comment, I would love to hear how you found your milkman!
Eco Lass 