Topic: Milk carton tips required!

[caroline7758]

Sorry this is a question rather than a tip! But our milkman of many years is retiring at the end of this week and has not found anyone to buy his round, so we are going to be forced to increase our carbon footprint by buying milk in those horrible plastic bottles for the first time in 30 years! Obviously I can stick them in the recycling bin but I'd rather re-use them, so which size would you say is most useful for re-use, given that we only use about a pint a day.

[manicscousers]

we use them for labels,ant size
compost scoops(4 pint size)
when we've cut the top up for labels(either 2,4 or 6 pints), the remainder does for filling up toilet rolls, trouble is, we use about 3 pints per day and only need so many labels, etc  ;D

[ceres]

2 pint or 4 pint.  I use them as individual cloches - cut the botttom out and a bit off the top.  Great for keeping birds off young seedlings and for seeds like peas that mice like.  Also use them to keep rats off sweetcorn cobs.  Fill them with water and use them to weigh down nets, fleece, membrane etc.  Storing comfrey/nettle/worm tea.  Stuck on top of canes, poles to protect eyes.

And you can freeze milk in plastic bottles so you never need run out again!  

[Columbus]

Hi Caroline, Hi all :)

I have thought about using them for storing Blood, fish and bone & Growmore which I buy in cardboard boxes that sometime go damp in my shed, or the mix of these that I usually use.

I`m also planning on growing huge amounts of beans for drying and will probably use them for bulk storage. I am a little concerned that they will smell milky. Yuk !

I think that as containers for long term storage they have a lot of potential - they are light, easy to handle and stack, they seal and reseal reliably. They are also free and easy to obtain.

Col

[manicscousers]

forgot about that, ceres, we store all our feed (that comes in cardboard cartons or loose ) in 6 pint milk containers, plus the nettle and comfrey feed  ::)

[ACE]

Hopfully soon, they will all be these.

http://www.springwise.com/eco_sustainability/biodegradable_milk_bottles/

[caroline7758]

Let's hope so, Ace. Anyway, i'm feeling less bad about it now I know I can easily re-use them all!
Must say I was expecting a post from JRP on this one! ;D

[honeybee]

lol, I too so expected to see a post off JRP here too  ;D

[Fork]

Give him time  :)

[pippy]

Around here you can get goatsmilk on the cardboard cartons Ace refers to, and it comes in semi skimmed too(See St Helens Farm brand).  I find it more digestible than cows milk and my son hasn't had exzema since having it.  And it may have a lower carbon footprint?  Not sure but cows are supposed to be the worst for carbon footprints before you get to the cartons even.

It is expensive (relatively) though - a good reason to try to use less of it!  Apparently dairy cattle produce more methane than beef cattle (!)

[manicscousers]

same here, pippy, Ray has cow's, I get goat's, shame we can't get the cow's in cardboard  ;D

[okra]

The 6 pint ones are good for making comfrey liquid, stuffing in the comfrey takes some time though, but the results are good

[cornykev]

I wee in mine and pour in the dalek compost bin, top that JRP.  ;D ;D ;D

[DolphinGarden]

Deffo 4 pint, or 2L as they are here.

[cacran]

I too was waiting for a reply from JRP. I tried his method of two tier growning of my Lettuce on a frame last year, yes they grw but don;t feel the need to do it again it was so faffy!!! Didn't look very nice either.
Cut the bottoms off and poke a few drainage holes in and use them as plantpots. Tops can be used as scoops, as said before or funnels. I have a bin full of nettle tea and I use old cartons to store the stuff, adding one to my watering can to feed the plants. A sam;ll milk carton can be filled with water and placed in your toilet cistern too to save water, the tank does not use so much to fill it then. there must be hundreds of uses.

[debster]

they are collecting the green lids from the 4 pint milk cartons at work for charity sure lots of people collect them for some charity  ;D

[artichoke]

Our site has no water so every time I go there I take the biggest milk containers full of water, even if it's raining. I keep a great stack of them up there, and bring them back when they're all empty. Some of them are 10 years old.