Milk bag

File:Milk bag packaging machine.jpg]]

For producers, it is easier to vary portion size when sealing bags than cartons, as well as lowering the cost of packaging. Milk bags also take up less space in the garbage. For consumers, bags typically allow for smaller portion sizes. This theoretically reduces the risk of spoilage, as well as the space and location of storage in the fridge.{{Cite news|last1=Nosowitz|first1=Dan|title=What's The Point Of Milk That Comes In Plastic Bags?|url=https://modernfarmer.com/2015/10/milk-plastic-bags/|access-date=2015-10-22|work=Modern Farmer|date=2015-10-20}}

While milk bags use less plastic than standard plastic bottles or jugs, empty bags are often not accepted for recycling when mixed with other plastics.{{Cite web | url=https://www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com/plastics-recycling/how-to-recycle/at-home/can-i-recycle-plastic-bags-in-the-recycling-bin/ | title=Can I Recycle Plastic Bags in the Recycling Bin? | date=2017 | publisher=Plastics Make it Possible | access-date=2 November 2018}} In Canada, where recycling services are municipally or regionally managed, milk bags may not always be recycled. In some municipalities milk bags are required to be discarded as garbage{{Cite web |url=http://app06.ottawa.ca/online_services/recycling/items/365_en.html |title=City of Ottawa - Recycling and Garbage - Milk Bags |publisher=App06.ottawa.ca |access-date=2015-11-02 |archive-date=2015-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503150205/http://app06.ottawa.ca/online_services/recycling/items/365_en.html |url-status=dead }} and in others they are recyclable.{{Cite web|date=|title=Recycling List - City of Peterborough|url=http://www.peterborough.ca/Assets/City+Assets/Waste+Management/Documents/2+Stream+Recycling+List.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316130252/http://www.peterborough.ca/Assets/City+Assets/Waste+Management/Documents/2+Stream+Recycling+List.pdf|archive-date=2012-03-16|access-date=2021-08-17|website=peterborough.ca}}

This is not an exhaustive list of all the countries where bagged milk is commonly sold.

File:Bagged Milk in Store (3293358107).jpg milk bags and cartons in Ontario, Canada]]

In Canada, milk was packaged in heavy, reusable Imperial unit glass milk bottles, cardboard cartons and plastic jugs until 1967, when DuPont, using European equipment, introduced plastic bags to store and sell milk; these bags gained widespread acceptance due to 1970s Metrication in Canada, when bottles, jugs, and cartons had to be redesigned and manufactured in metric units; milk bag packaging machines could easily be resized.{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Lisa |date=27 Feb 2017 |title=Why Do Canadians Drink Bagged Milk? |url=http://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/blog/why-do-canadians-drink-bagged-milk/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012142506/http://www.foodnetwork.ca/shows/great-canadian-cookbook/blog/why-do-canadians-drink-bagged-milk/ |archive-date=2017-10-12 |access-date=2021-08-16 |website=www.foodnetwork.ca}}{{Cite web |last=Gibson |first=Brittany |date=2021-07-09 |title=This Is Why Canadians Drink Milk Out of Bags |url=https://www.rd.com/article/canadians-milk-out-of-bags/ |access-date=2021-08-16 |website=Reader's Digest -US}}{{Cite web |last=Houck |first=Brenna |date=2019-10-21 |title=Why America's Milk Is Sold in Cartons, Not Bags |url=https://www.eater.com/2019/10/21/20919693/milk-carton-bag-pouch-history |access-date=2021-08-16 |website=Eater }}

The consumer public preferred plastic jugs for years, but largely accepted the new containers in parts of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes in the 1970s.{{Cite news |last=Kelly |first=Cathal |date=2010-02-04 |title=So we drink milk from bags. Does that make us weird? |newspaper=Toronto Star |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2010/02/04/so_we_drink_milk_from_bags_does_that_make_us_weird.html |access-date=2014-01-20}} Regulation in Ontario that required retailers to collect a deposit on milk jugs, but not bags, also motivated the practice.{{cite news |last=Heydari |first=Anis |date=January 2, 2020 |title=Here's why milk comes in bags in parts of Canada |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/we-answer-your-burning-questions-about-things-like-milk-bags-tariffs-condo-insurance-and-printer-cartridges-1.5409407/here-s-why-milk-comes-in-bags-in-parts-of-canada-1.5409420}}

Milk bags are sold (typically packaged three in a larger 4L sack) in parts of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, but no longer widely sold in western Canada, in Newfoundland and Labrador, or the territories.

Milk bags are commonplace in India,{{cite web |last1=Rogers |first1=Thomas |title=The future of dairy: Milk in a bag |url=https://www.salon.com/2010/02/25/milk_in_bags_sainsburys/ |website=Salon |date=25 February 2010 |access-date=28 December 2024}} with an estimated 30% of milk sold in the country being packaged this way.{{cite web |last1=Sharma |first1=Shardul |title=Pouched milk has revolutionized the Indian milk market|url=https://packagingsouthasia.com/events/pouched-milk-has-revolutionized/ |website=South Asia Packaging |date=15 September 2022 |access-date=28 December 2024}} There has been limited compliance from dairy businesses in buying back consumer plastic as required by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.{{cite web |title=Plastic ban: Most dairies in Maharashtra yet to start buying back and recycling of milk pouches |url=https://www.indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/plastic-ban-most-dairies-maharashtra-yet-to-start-buying-back-and-recycling-of-milk-pouches-6043258/lite/ |website=Indian Express |date=October 2019 |access-date=28 December 2024}}

File:Israeli Milk Bag.jpg

In Israel, bags are the most common type of packaging for milk. They became the standard form of milk packaging in the 1960s, with the discontinuation of glass bottles. Milk bag prices are controlled by the state. Therefore, price differences exist between them and other alternatives like plastic bottles or cartons. Due to the price differences, a relationship was observed between the socioeconomic status of the consumer and the type of milk container that they customarily purchased. The higher the socio-economic status of the purchaser, the more likely they are to buy milk in cartons rather than in bags, despite the higher price of cartons. Based on these differences, Blue Square Network created a way to measure the socioeconomic status of an area based on the sales ratio of milk cartons versus bagged milk. The higher the ratio of the former to the latter, the higher the status of the region in Israel.{{Cite web|last=Yefet|first=Orna|date=8 Dec 2003|title=L-2834517,00.html On the relationship between buying milk and socioeconomic status|url=https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,|access-date=1 May 2018|website=www.ynet.co.il}} {{Dead link|date=August 2021}} For religious Jews, opening a bag of milk can be considered problematic on Shabbat, because the action requires cutting. Eli Yishai, Israel's former minister of internal affairs, used empty milk bags in the Knesset as props to complain about price-hikes in the cost of milk.{{Cite news|date=2005-01-31|title=הכנסת: אלי ישי הניף שקית חלב במחאה על ייקור מחירה|trans-title=Knesset: Eli Yishai waved a bag of milk in protest of a price increase.|url=https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3039653,00.html|access-date=2021-08-16|website=Ynet|language=he}}

Milk bags are also commonly used in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.{{Cite magazine |last1=Chertoff|first1=Emily|title=The Surprising History of the Milk Carton|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/08/the-surprising-history-of-the-milk-carton/260587/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=2015-08-26|date=2012-08-01}}

In the United Kingdom, Sainsbury's began a pilot experiment on distributing milk in bags in 2008 in conjunction with Dairy Crest.{{Cite news|last=Blades|first=Hollye|date=2008-06-09|title=Pinta goes green as supermarkets offer shoppers the chance to buy milk in a bag|work=The Times|location=London|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/environment/article/pinta-goes-green-as-supermarkets-offer-shoppers-the-chance-to-buy-milk-in-a-bag-6tjszfs2fc5|access-date=16 Aug 2021}} It was originally targeted at 35 stores at the same price as a regular {{convert|2|imppt|adj=on}} plastic bottle of milk.{{Cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2098737/Milk-in-bags-hits-Sainsburys-shelves.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Rupert | last=Neate | title=Milk in bags hits Sainsbury's shelves | date=2008-06-09}} The product was expanded nationwide in 2010, at which point the bags retailed at a discounted price compared to traditional containers,{{Cite news|last=Wallop|first=Harry|date=2010-02-24|title=Milk in a bag at Sainsbury's|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenerliving/7307719/Milk-in-a-bag-at-Sainsburys.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114090810/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenerliving/7307719/Milk-in-a-bag-at-Sainsburys.html|archive-date=2012-11-14}}{{Cite web|date=8 April 2009|title=Jug It says it has nationwide success|url=https://www.fponthenet.net/article/23858/Jug-It-says-it-has-nationwide-success.aspx|url-access=registration|access-date=2021-08-17|website=www.fponthenet.net|publisher=Food Processing Magazine}} but stopped in early 2015.{{Cite web |title=Sainsburys discontinues Milk bags - X / Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/sainsburys/status/565169453688954881?lang=en |access-date=2023-07-26 |website=Twitter }}

DuPont introduced milk bags to American schools in 1989; by 1993 three million pouches a day were being served in 24 states.{{Cite news |last=O'Harrow |first=Robert |date=1993-09-11 |title=SCHOOL MILK CARTONS MAY FACE EXPULSION -US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1993/09/11/school-milk-cartons-may-face-expulsion/04aaec24-874e-4231-bc65-19ca55670d5c/ |access-date=2023-05-12 |issn=0190-8286}} However, the popularity of them waned. There appears to only be one verified school district, in Omaha, NE, using bagged milk as recently as 2015.{{Citation |title=Schools replace milk carton with milk bags | date=8 October 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIlB7dogVWI |access-date=2022-09-12}}

A few countries of the European Union sell milk in bags, as well as in the other types of containers, such as in Estonia (e.g. brands like Farmi, Valio/Alma, or Pilos).

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• Milk bottle
• Milk carton
• Plastic milk container
• Square milk jug

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{{Commons category|Milk bags}}

• {{YouTube | id=vjvV2Db3fGg | title=Canadian Milk Bags Demystified}}—a woman demonstrates the nature of the packaging and how it is readied for use

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Category:Bags

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