A chara, - I write to join with the numerous appeals from the Irish public that the glass milkbottle be retained and promoted as a perfectly satisfactory form of re-usable packaging. In Britain 30 per cent of milk is sold in glass bottles, while in Ireland Avonmore Waterford Group (soon to be Glanbia) thinks that people do not want milk in glass bottles, it seems.
Premier Dairies (now owned by AWG) continues to receive and bottle milk in Rathfarnham which serves the north and south side of Dublin. Over 200 workers are employed there and if the glass bottle goes, the jobs in Rathfarnham go also - as will up to 50 milkmen, according to the Milk Traders' Association.
All milk cartons are imported and most end up in landfills smelling to high heaven of sour milk, as well as creating tonnes of clingfilm packaging waste, while each glass bottle is reused up to 12 times and is then recycled in Ringsend, giving more local employment.
I wish Mr Ned Sullivan every success in his new job as managing director of AWG, which has a £2.2 billion annual turnover, and I urge him to appreciate that his customers would use more milk in glass bottles if it was promoted as seriously as his other products. Indeed, the Waste Management Act of 1996 sees re-usable packaging as even more important than recycling, so promoting the glass bottle is also complying with the law.
The Green Party/Comhaontas Glas in Dail Eireann wants to hear from people who support the campaign to save the glass milkbottle which cuts down on waste and provides sustainable employment. How could a responsible company in Avonmore Waterford Group (Glanbia) plc not such a campaign? Meanwhile, tell your milkman that you want your milk delivered in glass. Many jobs in the food and glass industries and communities besieged by dumps are depending on such consumer initiative. - Is mise,
Trevor Sargent TD, Green Party/Comhaontas Glas, Dail Eireann,
Baile Atha Cliath 2.