Talking about milk ...
I don't know the answer to above question but the following article tries to figure it out: Milk packaging.
I always get a gallon of milk in plastic. Plastic is the only option at the supermarket. Buttermilk and cream come in cartons though. What bothers me most about the plastic is that it takes up a lot of space when stored for return to the bottle deposit. I am not sure if I could return them flattened (after stomping on them). In Germany milk is mostly sold in 1-litre square cartons, we don't have the bulk-size packaging. In the GDR we had glass bottles or the wobbly plastic bag that was put into a reusable open-top plastic container that prevented the bag from collapsing once opened. Do I have a preference? No. Size matters though because once the packaging is open you have to consume it, well you should have to. I know our milk spoils but I have heard a story from someone who left an opened milk container in the fridge for months (she forgot it at her holiday condo in Arizona) and it did not spoil. Even months later it had not even changed consistency! Yuck!
In Ontario, you could buy 4L of milk in 3 plastic bags. The bags couldn't be reused though the amount of plastic is much less than the 4L jugs or the amount of paper in cartons. At Planet Organic you can get 1L of milk in glass jars that get reused; though it is prohibitively expensive.
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