2 litre plastic milk cartons

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Roro999

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Has anyone noticed that the plastic caps on opening are shedding bits of plastic ? This is happening each time I open the cap. This wasn't happening six months ago. Supervalu, Lidl and Aldi all the same type caps. No doubt small fragments of plastic are ending up in cups and saucepans. I have complained to one supplier without a reply.
 
All bottles and cartons now come with tethered caps, is that what you mean?

Some of them are a pain I find, the plastic is too flimsy. I use a small scissors to nick the ring and remove it. I always keep the caps on when putting into green bin or Return machines.

www.checkout.ie

European SUP Directive Sees Caps Tethered To Plastic Bottles | Checkout

The European Single-Use Plastic (SUP) Directive will see bottle lids required to stay attached to PET bottles under three litres from July.
www.checkout.ie www.checkout.ie
 
The cap quality is poor and because they shed the caps are a health hazard around food. Only option I see is to carefully pour the 2 litres through a sieve into a jug and work from there.
 
Haven't noticed the problem myself with Lidl or Tesco 2L bottles.
The caps on 1L cartons do seem to be of slightly better quality though?
 
Yes I can vouch that minute particles of plastic are coming off when the screw cap is being released to pour the milk.
The milk is being purchased in Dunnes
Definitely plastic particles and not milk.
 
I've noticed this. but there is an advantage to retaining the caps on containers that don't go in the Return machines and must go in the recycle bin.

Flatten the container to expel the air, don't distort the "spout' part, screw the cap back on and, bingo, the container now only occupies a quarter to a third of its original volume in the bin, which may save you the cost of a lift or three during the year. Juice cartons and milk cartons respond well to this treatment too.
 
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mathepac said:
I've noticed this. but there is an advantage to retaining the caps on containers that don't go in the Return machines and must go in the recycle bin.

Flatten the container to expel the air, don't distort the "spout' part, screw the cap back on and, bingo, the container now only occupies a quarter to a third of its original volume in the bin, which may save you the cost a lift or three during the year. Juice cartons and milk cartons respond well to this treatment too.
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Ah saving a few bob at the expense of your health. Believe me unless you take particular care you or a member of your family is eating plastic unknowingly.
 
Noticed same too. Also notice that a lot of 2lt cartons leak as seem to be overfilled since this came in. Fridge in local shop now nearly always has a layer of milk on the base. I keep a scissors beside fridge and cut the tops retainers off when bought so that we can pour the milk without having to spin the cap around to the correct direction every time.
A ridiculous idea just like the plastic bottle return scheme and the engine stop start button that I have to be switch off at the start of every car journey.
 
Roro999 said:
Ah saving a few bob at the expense of your health.
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How?
Roro999 said:
Believe me unless you take particular care you or a member of your family is eating plastic unknowingly.
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Micro-plastics are already in our food-chain, just as Teflon is in every part of our environment. Nothing I've proposed worsens either of those modes of poisoning we've inflicted on ourselves.
 
mathepac said:
How?

Micro-plastics are already in our food-chain, just as Teflon is in every part of our environment. Nothing I've proposed worsens either of those modes of poisoning we've inflicted
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Sorry I meant we're saving the environment in this case at the expense of our health in the long run with these ridiculous plastic particles falling off caps.
 
Ruffian said:
It is a Greens initiative. After 10 years we will be be eligible for the recycle bin.
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With the amount of milk I drink I'll be heading off shortly :D

The one thing I find very strange is that a few years back one of the guys in charge of one of the recycling plants was on something like Newsround and he said that people should not put the lid off the bottle of milk into the bottle when it was going in the recycle bin. We duly recycled them separately from then on as we use a ferocious amount of milk and like to do our bit for the planet.

Now we find that the cap is permanently attached to the bottle so the only conclusion that we can come to is that they have changed the type of plastic used in the lid to match the bottle.

I had though recently that the little white lumps floating around in the milk were there because the milk was on the turn or extra creamy despite it being low fat.

I must email Trump and see what his theory is as its sure to be good :)
 
Roro999 said:
Sorry I meant we're saving the environment in this case at the expense of our health in the long run with these ridiculous plastic particles falling off caps.
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Only if you believe the external environment has no impact on our health, which is of course not true.

Avoiding micro plastics might be a reasonable choice until negative health consequences can be proven and quantified, but forget changing your milk container choice, commercially produced milk is one of the common foodstuffs that score highest in micro plastic content. You'd also need to avoid seafood, fruit, vegetables, rice, salt, honey, bottled water, and sugar, etc.. Hey, a single teabag can release billions of microplastics into your drink!

Pieces large enough to see are likely to pose significantly less risk as they are too large to pass into the blood stream, and from there through the blood barrier into your organs.
 
Leo said:
Avoiding micro plastics might be a reasonable choice until negative health consequences can be proven and quantified, but forget changing your milk container choice, commercially produced milk is one of the common foodstuffs that score highest in micro plastic content. You'd also need to avoid seafood, fruit, vegetables, rice, salt, honey, bottled water, and sugar, etc.. Hey, a single teabag can release billions of microplastics into your drink!

Pieces large enough to see are likely to pose significantly less risk as they are too large to pass into the blood stream, and from there through the blood barrier into your organs.
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This particular issue is not about micro plastics.

If a commercially available product is causing consumers to ingest small lumps and shards of plastic, that's an obvious health hazard.
 
T McGibney said:
This particular issue is not about micro plastics.
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Are you sure? The OP mentioned small fragments so I assumed they were talking millimetre scale.

T McGibney said:
If a commercially available product is causing consumers to ingest small lumps and shards of plastic, that's an obvious health hazard.
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Are we still talking micro-plastics or larger pieces? Research into the effects of microplastics is still in the relatively early stages. If you are talking about larger pieces and the risk of perforation of the digestive tract or stomach, then rest assured that is pretty much impossible for a piece of plastic that might fall of a milk container lid while still leaving a functional lid in place. My wife deals with such cases in a busy Dublin hospital, they don't deal with many cases but when they do it's items of the scale of pen lids & tooth picks that cause issues. Smaller items just pass through unaided.
 
Thank god, I thought it was only me. Seems to be an issue with Dunnes own brand milk as I've tried others too. Large pieces of plastic constantly shredding off
 
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