Milk is about to get expensive, because of the containers

[jmowreader]

I stopped by Winco Foods yesterday on the way home from work, and visited the dairy department.

I found a letter from Darigold, the milk company in my area, taped to all the coolers.

Plastic milk jugs are made of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic. Their jug manufacturer's resin supplier's plant is located in Texas - and shut down because of the cold snap. As a result, there is a severe shortage of HDPE resin on the market.

Darigold has declared Force Majeure, which will allow them to raise prices as high as they need to.

[msongs]

1. used ta come in returnable glass bottles lol nt

[Tree Lady]

3. I was just thinking after John Olivers

Show on recycling last night we should return to glass for all drinks and make companies reuse.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. ME TOO! nt

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. Still does in some places

I can get a half-gallon of milk in a returnable glass bottle at my local grocery store.

[alwaysinasnit]

16. We do too. We have about 6 stores within a 10 minute drive and about half of them carry

milk in glass bottles from local dairies. The half gallon runs about $5 with a $1 returnable deposit. I can definitely taste the difference.

[alphafemale]

20. They have these at the local Kroger's

Smaller dairy glass bottles are $2 deposit for quart or half gallon.

I'm planning on going to this exclusively as I want to get way from plastic where I can.

And it is not homogenized.

I drink nonfat so that is not an issue.

[jimfields33]

2. Get expensive? In Florida, it's a heck of a lot more expensive then other states I've lived in

[frazzled]

5. Ew, I don't like the taste of milk in plastic jugs

I don’t drink much milk, frankly (just put it on cereal or use it in cooking), but when I do, I find the milk in plastic jugs smells/tastes kinda skanky to me. Paper cartons don’t do that.

And yeah, I remember the glass half gallons of milk the milkman used to leave in the metal box outside our house when I was a kid. You can still get glass containers of milk, but they are from small independent dairies and pretty pricey.

[KT2000]

6. Does anyone know

why Darigold milk lasts longer than other brands?

[IcyPeas]

7. What's wrong with the old square cardboard containers?

Better than plastic.

[jmowreader]

11. They weigh more than plastic containers

Less weight means a truck can carry more milk.

[2naSalit]

8. That sucks...

For milk drinkers. I rarely use it in cooking and I use 1/2 & 1/2 but it comes in paper cartons.

[tapper]

9. Some organic dairies use bottles

The one particular brand (don’t recall name off hand, sorry) is available at the local Dillon’s, as well as at the coop store. Half-gallon bottles have a $2.75 deposit, which can make it seem really expensive if you forgot to bring the old bottle back.

I believe most of the other organic milk brands available use the cardboard containers.

I would think that a ‘conventional’ milk brand would be constrained to go no higher than organics...

What would concern me about this shortage for plastic bottles is, will bottling constraints ripple back to the farmers? If a production facility decides it has to cut the amount of milk coming in, that’s going to result in milk being thrown away.

[PortTack]

12. Lots of great milk alternatives...the human body does not have enzymes to digest lactose

Seems a good time to switch!

Cows milk is for baby cows

[Demovictory9]

13. hate the taste of milk

[enki23]

14. That's.... not a true statement.

.

[hlthe2b]

22. ++

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Not only does the human body have enzymes to digest lactose...

but those enzymes remain functional for a substantial minority of the human population into adulthood.

[obamanut2012]

18. 100% not true -- you need to edit or self delete

[alphafemale]

21. For some people.

My life would not be complete without cheese and ice cream.

[NutmegYankee]

24. I can digest it as a middle age adult

As can most people of Western European descent. We carry the genes in our DNA to digest it for life.

[Hortensis]

15. Interesting. Thanks, Jmowreader. The TX Repub disaster continues.

[demtenjeep]

19. we use this company. We had to pay a deposit for the bottles but now we have 3 that we rotate

https://www.hildebrandfarmsdairy.com/





their rootbeer milk tastes just like a rootbeer float.


mmmm so good

[brooklynite]

23. I can think of 10 places within five blocks where I can buy milk...

...produced by multiple companies.

I find it hard to believe that Darigold has a monopoly in your community.

[jmowreader]

27. There are private label milks...

...but most of them are made by Darigold. I know Walmart’s milk is usually made by Dean Foods, but it makes a lot of sense to buy your house-brand milk from the closest creamery...which, up here, is Darigold.

And in this case it doesn’t matter...if Darigold is having trouble getting jugs because there’s no HDPE being made, so is everyone else. I guess they could fly the resin in from China, but air freight on a cheap product like that would double the resin price.

[Klaralven]

25. Isn't not producing plastic a good thing? Sort of like not having any gas or oil pipelines?

Most production of resin and related materials was down early Feb. 19, with several producers declaring force majeure or otherwise limiting sales through allocations. On Feb. 18, research firm ICIS of Houston estimated that almost 90 percent of U.S. polypropylene resin production was offline. The firm also placed outages for linear low density polyethylene at 54 percent, LDPE at 51 percent, high density PE at 42 percent and PVC at 16 percent.

In feedstocks, ICIS estimated 65 percent of U.S. ethylene production was down, as well as almost 50 percent of propylene and 23 percent of vinyl chloride monomer. "At present, authorities have not been able to give a timeline for full power to be restored to the state power system," ICIS said in a Feb. 18 report.

...

"The uncertain timeline for power to be restored to the state and the time necessary to bring production units back online and ramp up output means that supplies could be constrained in the country for weeks," the ICIS report added.

...

PP makers that have declared force majeure include LyondellBasell Industries, Ineos Olefins & Polymers and Flint Hills Resources, according to letters obtained by PN. Celanese Corp. also has declared force majeure on acetal resins. ExxonMobil Chemical has closed its Beaumont and Baytown plants in Texas because of freezing weather conditions, coupled with the curtailment of natural gas supplies throughout Texas, a company spokesman said in an email to PN. ExxonMobil makes polyethylene resin and ethylene feedstock at both locations. It also makes polypropylene resin in Baytown and propylene feedstock in Beaumont.

https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/texas-ice-cold-shut-down-resin-operations

This is really good news for the environment.

[tanyev]

26. The stores in Canada where my husband's family lives sell most milk in bags.

I wonder if that will be affected?

Why Do Canadians Drink Bagged Milk?

BY: LISA JACKSON
JUNE 20, 2018 | 8:29 AM

Oh, Canada! As proud Canucks, we certainly have our share quirky traits and tastes, from profusely apologizing with “soar-ee” to our love of ketchup chips, butter tarts and poutine. But did you know that bagged milk is also a uniquely Canadian invention?

Believe it or not, milk bags have been in Canadian fridges since the 1970s, selling mainly in Ontario, Québec and the Maritimes. Each package contains three un-resealable plastic pouches filled with milk, equaling 4 litres in total. Insert a single bag into a pitcher, snip off the corner and start pouring. Then put the pitcher back in the fridge, until you need it next.

https://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/blog/why-do-canadians-drink-bagged-milk/

[jmowreader]

28. It's possible

Those are probably either low-density polyethylene (which comes from the same place as HDPE) or polyethylene terephtalate (aka “polyester”) which comes from a factory in Fayetteville, NC. If it’s the latter, you’d have to hope DAK Americas is getting their feedstocks from somewhere besides Texas.