DO YOU THROW EMPTY POUCHES OF MILK WASHED OR UNWASHED?
THROW IT WASHED AND BE CONSIDERATE FOR THE HUMAN SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

 

What I am writing in this article might or might not have been noticed or considered by many, however it has lot of importance for the human society and environment at large.

Only being aware of and giving few seconds to wash the empty milk pouches by water after you drain the milk out of it for your consumption and before you throw it into your trash bin or any where would help the environment and the society at large.  Kindly consider the facts I am presenting below.

In India, right now about 62million litres ( 62,000,000 litres ) of liquid milk is being sold per day ( every day ) in plastic pouches which the people all around are buying on daily basis. About 70% of it in 500ml  Plastic Pouch Packing and 30% of it in 1Litre Plastic Pouch Packing.

That means about 43.4 million litres in 500ml pouch and 18.6 million litres in 1Litre pouch packing are being sold or otherwise consumed daily.

If we convert into the number of plastic pouches being used, 43.4 million litres sold in 500ml pouch packing makes 86.8 million pouches; and the 18.6 million litres sold in 1Litre pouch packing makes 18.6 million pouches. In total ( just adding both numbers ), it makes 105.4 million empty plastic pouches (105,400,000   or  10 Crore and 54 lac pouches) also being used and thrown daily. If we convert to yearly basis, that makes ( by multiplying daily number by 365 ) about 38471 million ( 38.471 billion or 3847.1 Crores) empty plastic pouches are being thrown in a year, it is just a huge number. 

The numbers may have some variance here and there, however as I said it is a huge number to recon with.

In this article, I am only looking at the hygiene aspects of unwashed empty milk pouches being thrown on daily basis all around.

Kindly consider, when a consumer ( house hold or commercial milk consumer ) is cutting open the milk pouch for pouring the liquid milk out of it; after draining out the milk from its plastic pouch, in almost all cases or in most of the cases is throwing it just like that, without washing the milk pouch. When the milk is poured out or drained out from the milk pouch, invariably and undisputedly, there will be a very small quantity of liquid milk, may be as small as 1ml or 2ml of liquid milk would be sticking to the inside of the plastic pouch. That is where the problem lies if the empty milk pouch is being thrown from the consumer level in unwashed condition.

The unwashed plastic pouch that is being thrown from consumer level with the small quantity of milk (as I said may be as little as 1ml or 2ml) sticking to it inside, could be the good feeding and growing ground of harmful bacteria and micro organisms in the environment and that could be very harmful to the society at large.

Kindly consider which kind of bacteria or micro organisms can grow with the milk sticking inside the thrown away empty and unwashed pouches of milk in such huge numbers on daily basis.

In addition to the fact that milk is a nutritious food for humans, it can provide a favorable environment for the growth of microorganisms. Yeasts, moulds and a broad spectrum of bacteria can grow in milk, particularly at temperatures above 16°C.

BACTERIAL TYPES COMMONLY ASSOCIATED WITH MILK.
Pseudomonas	Spoilage
Brucella	Pathogenic
Enterobacteriaceae	Pathogenic and spoilage
Staphylococci
Staphylococcus aureus	Pathogenic
Streptococcus
S. agalactiae	Pathogenic
S. thermophilus	Acid fermentation
S. lactis	Acid fermentation
S. lactis-diacetyllatic	Flavour production
S. cremoris	Acid fermentation
Leuconostoc lactis	Acid fermentation
Bacillus cereus	Spoilage
Lactobacillus
L. lactis	Acid production
L. bulgaricus	Acid production
L. acidophilus	Acid production
Propionibacterium	Acid production
Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Pathogenic

 ( Source : Milk Composition and Microbiology, https://www.groupe-esa.com/ladmec/bricks_modules/brick02/co/ZBO_Brick02_3.html )

 

It can be observed from the above table; that the Bacterial types that are designated as Pathogenic such as Brucella, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis can find the unwashed empty milk pouches (plastic) as good feeding and growing ground for their growth and contamination of the environment.

The contamination and infection of the above pathogenic bacteria associated with milk can cause the following diseases in humans:

1.                 Brucella  can cause Brucellosis – The signs and symptoms of brucellosis may include fever, joint pain and fatigue. Although infection can usually be treated with antibiotics, however, treatment takes several weeks to months, and the infection can recur.

2.                 Enterobacteriaceae - Enterobacter species are responsible for causing many nosocomial infections, and less commonly community-acquired infections, including urinary tract infections (UTI), respiratory infections, soft tissue infections, osteomyelitis, and endocarditis, among many others.

3.               Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections such as abscesses (boils), furuncles, and cellulitis. While most staph infections are not serious, S. aureus can cause serious infections such as bloodstream infections, pneumonia, or bone and joint infections.

 

4.               Streptococcus agalactiae is a gram-positive bacterium (coccus type) that is commonly known to cause invasive infections in pregnant women and newborns. Infections range from local skin and soft tissue infections to invasive infections with meningitis, infective endocarditis, and sepsis.

 

5.               Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes Tuberculosis (TB) humans.

Therefore, the unwashed empty milk pouches of huge number thrown from consumer level having little left over milk sticking inside it can be the cause of the above dreaded bacteria, yeasts and moulds that can cause sever health hazards for the humans.

The most possible and easily doable solution to the above said hazardous issue is just washing the empty plastic pouches of milk by normal water before throwing it. That will reduce the said health hazards for humans to a large extent.

I am drawing the attention of the readers that it would be needed to create wide spread awareness among the milk pouch consumers to wash the empty milk pouches just by water before it is being thrown by them.

Then the question comes, who should create this awareness? Logically as a matter of Social Responsibility, the sellers of the milk in plastic pouches carry this responsibility of creating public awareness to wash the empty milk pouches before throwing it.

One of the good ideas would be to print a BOLD STATEMENT on the plastic milk pouches; something like “PLEASE WASH THE EMPTY MILK POUCH WITH WATER BEFORE THROWING IT TO PREVENT HEALTH HAZARDS TO FELLOW HUMANS AND THE SOCIETY”. They can also be impressed to put an insert like this in their promotional and advertisement campaigns of pouch milk.

In fact, in my opinion, it could be made a regulatory requirement for the milk pouch sellers ( dairy manufacturers packaging milk in pouches ) to print such a statement on the milk pouches as a legal compliance and compulsorily. It should be something like done for cigarette packaging where it is a legal requirement to print “ Cigarette Smoking is injurious to health”.

I would request the readers, at least, to voluntarily implement or advise for washing of the empty milk pouches in their households or else where they can advise or make the people using milk pouches aware of this subject.  It would be a great help to the humanity, the society and the environment from health point of view humans.

About the Author : Dr. Nimain Charan  Biswal is a B.Sc.(Agri. Science and Technology), M.B.A. and Ph.D.(Management Area ) by qualifications and he has 35+ years of work experience in both  industrial and development sectors in diversified fields of social importance. He has been educated at Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT)-Bhubaneswar, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and Gujarat University (with Resource Support of IIM-Ahmedabad). Dr.Biswal is further educated at IIM-Calcutta, XLRI-Jamshedpur, Apple Computer Industries and Spar Inc., USA. He has worked for reputed National and International Organisations in Senior/Top Management Capacities. He is a management expert covering extensive areas from management in agriculture, industrial management, development management to management of public systems. He is a prominent professional of India and known Internationally as well. He lives at Mumbai in India.