Bring back our bottles!
28.11.2007
South Tyneside Green Party has condemned the withdrawal of the traditional glass school milk bottles from South Tyneside’s schools. The Green Party Parliamentary Candidate for South Shields, Shirley Ford, has also criticised South Tyneside Council Catering Service for failing to adequately challenge the milk supplier’s decision to replace bottles with cartons made using plastic.
The supplier, Dairy Farmers of Britain, told the council their bottling machine had broken. After concerns were raised, the supplier agreed to try to repair the machine, but they later informed the council that, “after much debate and effort… they have conceded defeat”. The council catering service then issued an email to schools advising that the bottles were being withdrawn.
Shirley, who works in local primary school Marine Park, said:
“We want our bottles back! The cartons are terrible, creating more mess and more work for our caretaker and cleaners. It's unsustainable too, sending the wrong message to our children, at a time when we are teaching them to look after the environment and the need to reduce waste.
“I'm appalled that the council has allowed the supplier to get away with this. The council should demand that unless the milk comes in glass bottles, they will find another supplier. The priority must be to get re-usable bottles back.”
Although Dairy Farmers of Britain has promised to start collecting the cartons for recycling in January, this is not as good as re-using glass bottles. Recycling ‘tetra-pak’ cartons requires more energy than washing bottles, which means more carbon dioxide produced, adding to global warming. Also, since the beginning of the fiasco and until the carton recycling starts, the cartons are being binned with the rest of the rubbish, ultimately ending up in landfill and costing the council extra money in landfill taxes. This means that South Tyneside council tax payers are footing the waste disposal bill for Dairy Farmers of Britain.
notes
South Tyneside Council has stated in the Waste Strategy that it follows the Waste Hierarchy – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. However the milk bottle policy is step backwards in the hierarchy.