Could we see return of milkman and milk bottles?

OLDER readers will recall the reassuring clink of bottles as milkmen made doorstep deliveries every morning up to the 1980s, writes Tom Gillespie.

As the backlash against plastic packaging gathers pace, home deliveries of environmentally-friendly reusable bottles could be on the way back.

There is a huge movement in the UK supporting the return of bottled milk.

Doorstep deliveries of glass bottles are up by a quarter in just two years to about one million, according to industry body Dairy UK.

With families turning away from plastic, the traditional milkman is the best option for those who are switching to relatively heavy glass bottles.

A returnable glass milk bottle makes an average of 20 round trips on the doorstep, while a plastic version is used just once.

Could that trend take off here? I certainly hope so. The proliferation in supermarket-bought cartons and plastic containers of milk and cream has swamped present day society.

Once empty they go to the recycling bin and are of little use for anything else, whereas the bottles were washed and left out for collection by the milkman the following morning for reuse.

One of the satisfying pleasures of bottled milk was the inch or so of cream on the top. If you were first to breakfast you really got the cream. That is if the birds hadn't been there before you.

The birds became adept at puncturing the foil tops and extracting the cream.

However, if reintroduced, modern technology, I’m sure, could provide a bird-proof top to safeguard the cream for the householder against the two-legged feathered bandits.

 

Milk rounds in Castlebar

As a child in Marian Row in Castlebar, Johnny McHale from Newport Road came around with a churn from which you got a jug full or two of milk.

Later Paddy Nolan from Turlough was the regular milkman and he was assisted by Brendan Deane from St. Bridget’s Crescent.

We got two bottles every day. They were left outside the front door and the milkman was paid at the end of every week.

Our first milkman after we were married was the late Walter Barrett from Breaffy.

When we resided at Riverdale Court our milkman was Billy Bourke from Breaffy (pictured). He was involved in the business for up to 40 years and had a loyal clientele all over Castlebar.

We did not have milk floats in rural Ireland and the local milkmen ferried their wares in a trailer behind their vehicles.

The arrival of supermarkets in Castlebar and across the country led to a decline in bottled milk, the demise of the noble milkman, and the cartons era took over.

I was recently sent to get a carton of milk. It was just the one item so no shopping bag was required. A bad mistake.

I made my purchase, returned to the car, and placed the carton on the passenger seat only to discover when I arrived home that it was leaking. We all know how hard it is to get rid of the smell of spilt milk from a vehicle. So lesson learned.

A return to milk bottles would, I know, have a dramatic economic affect on the dairy industry. The large co-ops have invested millions of euro in the latest technology so they can mass produce cartons of milk and cream for their customers.

Likewise, any potential sole distributors would be inundated with red tape and health and safety regulations, which would make it impossible for them to return to the old ways.

 

Scourge of plastic

Another major cause of environmental concern is the level of plastic that is swamping our oceans. This has become of worldwide concern because of the irreparable damage it is causing to fish life.

I see where a campaign has been launched on Facebook asking visitors to beaches to take away at least three plastic items. What a great idea.

It can all make a difference but it is important that those recovered items are disposed of properly and not allowed back into the oceans.

Take a walk on any beach in Mayo and you will see a line of plastic items, timber and discarded netting washed up at the high water mark. Not all of those would have been dumped on the beach but washed ashore after being thrown overboard by unscrupulous mariners at sea.

Floating plastic waste, ranging from bags, bottles and caps to fibres and microbeads, wash out into the oceans from rivers and sewers, while larger plastics are broken down into smaller fragments that can last for hundreds to thousands of years.

Fragments of all sizes, particularly microbeads, are swallowed by marine life and enter the food chain, disrupting fragile ecosystems.

We have seen on TV news channels the extent of ocean pollution due to plastic and how items of plastic, of all shapes and sizes, were found in the stomachs of fish.

I, and colleagues, would be regulars to go fishing on Clew Bay. All of us would bring a few cans of beer/lager for the day but there is an unwritten understanding that nothing is thrown overboard into the tide.

Usually we fish with Dara McGee in his White Water II vessel out of Newport.

The only thing to go overboard is the remains of the gutted fish. Everything else that is considered rubbish is bagged and taken ashore to be disposed of in a responsible manner.