The people of Canberra have shown a stubborn liking for glass milk bottles. It is hard to tell whether that is because of a belief that glass containers are more environmentally friendly or whether they think the milk tastes better from taste-neutral glass than from waxed cardboard cartons.
In any event, the Act Milk Authority should not be allowed to get away with eliminating the glass option by stealth or what it thinks is benign neglect. It would be all to easy for the authority to use the excuse of the current worn bottle-washing equipment to phase out glass bottles. The worn bottle-washing equipment is increasing the risk of glass particles falling in bottles. The authority says there is a health risk and in that circumstance distribution should cease till the problem is fixed.
It would be easy for the authority to put its hand of its heart and say there are no plans to phase out glass, but deliver in cardboard in the interim and after a few months when everyone has forgotten about it announce that it is too costly to repair the washer and go back to glass.
If glass is to be phased out there must be some comprehensive public statements from the authority about the relative environmental, cost and taste benefits of glass and cartons. The public and media will be guarding against the changing of milk-delivery methods without full debate.