It’s better to buy milk in the plastic jug than the wax paperboard carton.

TRASH

In terms of environmental costs, the production of plastic milk jugs consumes more energy than the production of paperboard cartons. And almost all of the energy used to make plastic is from fossil fuels.

Although plastic milk jugs are more likely to be recycled than paperboard cartons, they’re unlikely to be recycled into anything useful. For instance, your recycled milk jug will never find itself reincarnated as another milk jug.

In areas where paperboard milk cartons can be tossed into the curbside recycling bin, a single carton can be reprocessed into at least five sheets of paper.

There are health benefits associated with the paperboard carton as well. It turns out that when milk is exposed to light—as it is if it’s contained in the plastic jug sitting on the grocery store shelf—it can lose significant levels of Vitamin A, riboflavin, and Vitamin D after just 15 hours of light exposure. Light does not penetrate the paperboard carton.

Try This: If your recycler accepts paperboard milk cartons, try buying them instead of plastic jugs. Just remember to recycle when the carton’s empty