FIND A MILK REFILL STATION
(for a full list go to roddas.co.uk) including Celtic Produce 90 Beacon Rd, Bodmin
PL31 1AW 01208 76503
109 GENERAL STORE
109 Heaton Park Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 5NR facebook. com/109general storeheaton/
THE ORGANIC FARM SHOP
Abbey Home Farm, Burford Rd, Cirencester GL7 5HF 01285 640441; theorganic farmshop.co.uk
BRADFIELDS FARM
Burnt Mills Road, North Benfleet, Wickford, Essex, SS12 9JX 01268 729129; bradfieldsfarm. co.uk
WHITEGATE FARM
Norwich Road, Creeting St Mary, Suffolk,
IP6 8PG 01449 710458; suffolk cheese.co.uk
GREYLEY’S FARM MILK AT RYDAL GARAGE FORECOURT
Elvington Ln, Elvington, York YO41 4DL, greyleysfarm. co.uk before it “breaks even” environmentally compared to plastic, and anti-waste charity Wrap reckons that it may be effectively reused only 18 times (allowing for bottles that are broken or don’t return to the milkman for other reasons, perhaps because they are being repurposed as trendy flower vases). That said, suppliers insist that they could be refilled up to 50 times before becoming too scuffed to reuse, at which point they can be recycled – and unlike plastic, glass doesn’t lose quality every time it is recycled.
If, like me, a milk delivery doesn’t fit in with your life, you may welcome a new initiative that is finding its way on to the high street. Milk refilling stations have started appearing in farm shops as well as on the high street. From deep in the South West, where Rodda’s, of clotted cream fame, are selling Cornish milk from 30 locations, to Siop Ellis Spar in Llangefni on Anglesey to Forest Farm Dairy, Aberdeenshire. My local is Better Food Company in Bristol, which installed its machine six months ago. You buy a 750ml glass bottle and lid for £1, and then pop it in the dispenser, close the glass door, choose semi skimmed or full fat, and wait seven seconds or so while it fills it with organic milk from Bruton Dairy in Somerset, for £1 a time. More than the supermarkets, sure, but I know where the milk has come from, plus it is unhomogenised, which (Waitrose Duchy Originals aside) is not generally sold by the multiples, except for the rich Gold Top milk. It’s cheaper than most delivery services too, plus, washing the bottles at home and bringing them back to the shop for refills makes more sense to me than transporting a heavy glass back to the dairy for washing, sterilising and refilling.
So far, so good. But to make sense, we all need to have a “refill station” close to home. At the supermarket would be handy for most of us, so why haven’t they adopted the idea? Sainsbury’s says it is considering the notion, but when I spoke to other supermarkets about the possibility of a milk-vending machine, they dismissed it, claiming the issue was one of hygiene – people couldn’t be trusted to clean their bottles properly between refills. Really? I reckon we are competent to wash a bottle and anyway, that’s our problem not theirs. After all, if you follow this logic, we can’t be trusted to keep our fish in the fridge or wash our hands after dealing with raw chicken, so frankly shouldn’t be allowed these ingredients at all.
I asked Gene Joyner of Better Food whether the scheme was working for them. “Customers love it,” he told me. “They want to do something that contributes to the environment. We’ve had our two machines for six months and we’ll probably save 10 to 15 thousand plastic bottles over a year.” Sure, there have been teething problems. The machines, specially made for the shops, have needed calibrating. Nor does it particularly make financial sense, he admits. “It takes up a lot of space, and plastic bottles probably give us a better margin. But that’s not really what we are about.” Shelf life is also shorter than milk sealed in a bottle at the dairy, around four to six days instead of eight to 12. “But it’s the same with our bread, and customers understand that an artisanmade loaf without preservatives may not last as long as mass-produced bread,” points out Joyner.
Meanwhile I will continue nestling the milk bottles in a wine-bottle carrier and walking up the road for a refill. Children adore watching milk frothing and squirting into the bottle, and if I’m honest, so do I. When the main door is opened for staff to check milk levels, it reveals not a grim plastic vat, but a real, proper milk churn, which illogically enough, is very satisfying. Environmentally, this is one “milk machine” that makes total sense.