24 November 2008

Got Milk?

Milk straight from the......,

noooo, not straight from the cow, but from a self serve dispenser in town.
I had heard rumors of this coming to Italy, but was pleased to find it on offer in Pinerolo a few weeks ago.

For one euro you can get a full flavor, and I should also say full fat, liter of milk.
Notice the cream on the top of the milk?
Exciting stuff indeed.

When I worked in Austria about 9 years ago I was a bit baffled upon discovering a new cubicle, about the size of a pay phone booth, on the street, where you could purchase a variety of sizes of fresh milk, from a cup to a liter, for a few shillings. I found it extremely interesting to say the least. The Austrians have been very forward thinking with regards to recycling and reduction of packaging in my experience in the Tyrol. I'm glad to see Italy join in the custom. We can only hope there are more bulk products coming to a store near us soon, to continue to reduce, reuse and recycle! We have found a steady stream of people using this facility every time we have been there. As our closest outlet doesn't offer you a brand new bottle on demand for a mere 30 centesimi, like our neighbors in Cavour, I noticed most folks had an abundance of bottled water empties. That's a step in the right direction, especially as Italians are the number one consumer of bottled water in all of Europe, which to my mind is not a wonderful mark of distinction! Now if we can only get our council on board with the recycling with a bit more conviction and get a few of these type of dispensers here closer to home, then we will be heading in a direction we all need to go, together! First our battle with the council over trash removal is just heating up, but that's a story for another day


Why is this man smiling?
Could it be because he's fondling a mechanical udder?

5 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Cute photo!
Great idea for recycling, huge containers to throw out always bother.

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

This is a fantastic idea really. I wonder if it would ever catch on in Canada!!

Bella Baita Marla said...

Thanks Tanna
Bulk dispensing is such a great way forward in general. I wonder if we can ever get the general marketing world to buy in?

Anonymous said...

That's a great idea! It seems that the more we go forward with technology, etc. the more we want to go back a little. It brings back thoughts of the milk delivery man. Love it.

Anonymous said...

Great photo of Fabrizio. We saw one of these milk dispensers in Brisighella, near Faenza, in summer of 2007. We'd never seen one before and were quite surprised.

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