Milk packets are, of course, non-biodegradable but here’s somewhat a little good news – they can be recycled if we dispose them of properly. While this is not the solution to the extreme problem of plastics, it’s a way for us to reduce the impact of the problem till we find the find and implement the right solution.
How we got interested in finding about milk packets further was when we came across a tweet by Karnataka BJP Vice-President Tejaswini Ananthkumar. The tweet had a video and said that if we open milk packets without separating a small piece of it, around 50 lakh such pieces can be prevented from making it to the garbage.
What is the reason behind?
Milk packets and packets of other semi-solid dairy products like curd, buttermilk, etc are made of low-density polyethylene (LPDE) which is a subclass of plastics. Kripa Ramachandran, an independent researcher on municipal solid waste and waste workers explains, “these type of plastics need to be compressed at high temperatures and in a certain shape to be recycled, otherwise, they add no value. Moreover, if these pieces do not reach the recycling units, they break-down into microplastics which are then carried by rain and wind into drainage systems which can lead to clogging or even enter waterbodies where marine organisms can consume them.”
The second reason is that it is super easy for these small pieces to get lost while waste transportation. They also get mixed up with other waste and it becomes difficult to locate them because of their size. Hence, they end up in landfills, waterbodies, forests or simply on the road outside your house. It stays there for years and years before innocent animals consume them accidently.
But, it’s not only the small pieces that are a problem
According to a garbage audit done by an NGO named Chintan which works on solid waste management, it was found that almost 57 percent of single-layer plastic collected in a garbage sample in Delhi was just of Mother Dairy and Amul milk packets. Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, told The Print that, “waste from Amul and Mother Dairy plastic milk packets has choked the drains of Delhi.”
Like we mentioned earlier, these packets can be recycled but the problem is that these companies do not have any established collection or recycling mechanism in place which leaves the entire process in the hands of the unorganized sector of rag-pickers. They do what is in their capacity, however, the numbers are absolute minimal. Moreover, the responsibility of recycling these waste packets cannot be shifted to rag-pickers. The big companies need to step in and take the lead since they are ones who are responsible for generating the waste in the first place. Amul currently sells 2.6 crore pouches and 12-15 lakh tetra packs of milk per day across India, generating as much waste.
So nothing is being done?
Well, these big dairy companies have claimed that they are taking actions to solve the problem. A senior officer and spokesperson with Mother Dairy said that they have “already entered into contractual agreement with NGOs and authorized recyclers, and piloted Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs in Maharashtra. But in other States and cities, plans will be put in place post the Mumbai pilot.” They further said that they are “pioneers in setting up ‘bulk milk vending shops’ at Delhi-NCR, through which every year approximately 1,200 tons equivalent of plastic is avoided.” They also said that they have been “reducing plastic packaging wherever possible like replacing plastic spoons with wooden spoons in their curds and ice creams, and eliminating use of plastic bags at Safal and Mother Dairy booths.”
Well, we can actually at least second this – they do are trying to eliminate plastic in smaller ways. We also did put up a little appreciation post for them a few days ago for encouraging consumers to bring their own shopping bags. While this is super nice, it in no way can make up for the otherwise big plastic problem that they’ve been causing. We’ve also written to Mother Dairy asking about the follow up of their pilot program in Mumbai.
The government also said they will focus on de-incentivizing the purchase of smaller milk packets across the country through three ‘R’s — “reduce, rebate and recycle”. Here’s what that means –
- The cooperatives have been asked to reduce the price of one-litre packets and increase the price of half-litre packets to encourage consumers to buy a single packet instead of multiple ones.
- Putting a system in place where consumers get a cashback when they return the used packets to their suppliers who will in turn take them back to the cooperatives for recycling.
- The recycled plastic can be used to make granules for use in the construction of roads.
It’s all good then?
We know that recycling makes everything sound better but that’s far from good to be honest in this situation. The current rate at which the corporations and the government is taking steps, it can be years before we can see some results. And we cannot absolutely afford that. So at present, when the option to recycle milk and dairy product packets is to work with ragpickers, it is important to remember that not all milk and dairy product pouches are picked up by ragpickers. Chitra Mukherjee, Head of Programmes at Chintan, pointed out that “packets that are soiled, obviously, have a lesser value. As a result, they idle on landfills for years and when they catch fire, as it happens often in summers, the chlorinated plastic on burning produces cancer causing-furans and dioxins.”
Read: Teabags Contain Plastic in Them – Wait, What?
Moreover, the thing to remember is that plastic, as a material, can only be ‘downcycled’ or made into a lower grade plastic as the quality goes down with every cycle. For example, a plastic bottle can become a cheap container but not into another good bottle. This is particularly also sad because plastic is made out of extremely valuable petroleum. Priti Mahesh, Chief Programme Coordinator at Toxics Link said, “eventually, the plastic will return to the system so it is no solution to our problems. We have to look at elimination.”
Here’s what we need to do
The best way, of course, is to eliminate. If it is possible for you to not buy milk packets in the first place, it’ll be the super nice. In India, we still have smaller milk suppliers who have a few cows and deliver milk directly to your homes. It eliminates the need of plastics since they directly deliver through milk containers and you can directly ask them to transfer the milk in a utensil at home – the traditional old fashioned way. If not that, you can also take your utensils to a nearby milk supplier and get it filled, or carry it to milk booths like the ones Mother Dairy have.
Read: 10 Cool Ways to Reuse Leftover Tea Leaves
In case that is not possible for you then you can support the current system in place and make sure that the waste packets that you are generating get recycled instead of reaching landfills, drainage systems, oceans or forests. For this, you need to follow just 3 simple steps –
- Make sure you cut them without snipping off a small piece (refer to the tweet above or our video). In case you snip off a portion accidently, make sure to put it in the main packet so that it doesn’t get lost.
- Clean the packets – wash them and dry them. It’s true for all kinds of packet actually – a lot of food packaging plastic do not get recycled since they have spoiled leftover food in them. So always make sure you dispose them off clean if you have to.
- Dry these packets, store them for a while till you have collected a few together and hand them over to person who comes to collect your waste. It’s a shame that as a country we still need ragpickers to do our job of segregating & disposing waste.
Alternately, you can also give these packets to a scrap dealer, or give them out to individuals and organizations that collect this waste from you (we have a really interesting and inspiring story of Peepal Baba who uses these packets for an amazing cause coming up soon, so don’t forget to check that out later). Usually, the scrap dealers might give you a small amount of money for the packets, but you can totally also just donate them.
Lastly, be vocal about it. Write to these companies asking them to switch to a more sustainable way of packaging instead of using plastic. Sign online petitions. Trust us, these do make a huge difference. It’s also super important that you share this information with the people around you and create awareness. The more the people join hands, the more we can increase the impact and bring a change.
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