We have all become increasingly aware of the need to “reduce, reuse and recycle”, move away from singleuse packaging (such as those typically used for milk) and plastics in general. Almost all plastics are made from chemicals that come from the production of planet-warming fuels (gas, oil, coal). Plastic debris is also harmful to wildlife, with animals inadvertently consuming microplastics, which can entangle or lodge inside their digestive tract, resulting in malnutrition, intestinal blockage, or slow poisoning from chemicals leached from the plastics. In short, single-use plastic is now reputationally more evil than an under-handed villain in a Marvel film.
When we started Chiddingstone Dairy, there was no question in our minds that we wanted to avoid singleuse plastics. We want to be a sustainable company that does the right thing by our community and the planet, and create products that we can be proud to tell people about.
The challenge this presents is cost: while a plastic milk container would have cost us less than 3p per bottle, a glass bottle that is suitable for reuse costs £1.20 per unit (wholesale). Reuse of these bottles is super important to maximise their lifecycle and therefore minimise the carbon footprint. It also helps to ensure that we can keep our pricing fair: without this virtuous cycle we would need to charge upwards of £3 per bottle (which seems unreasonable – even to us, and we love our milk). By returning the bottles to us (simply give them a quick and leave them on your doorstep when empty) every glass bottle you buy and return to Chiddingstone Dairy is removing at least 10 single-use plastic bottles from the chain. Another udderly great reason to buy your milk from Chiddingstone Dairy!