#The intense uni stress is kinda over so Im back to kicking my apathy away and trying to get healthier and cleaner again

[gippyworm]

Okay but fr I am so sick of trying to pick between two detriments when it comes to milk. I love cow's milk but I also know the extensive ecological cost between land use, methane, carbon dioxide and water. By god, the water... (I did an assessment that included researching and calculating all this). Phew.

Not a fan of almond really except for flavoured milk treats, and that also uses water extensively so I'm not too interested in it.

I love oat milk, its much better ecologically, but. The packaging x__x Tetra Paks cannot be recycled in Australia (there is a single recycling plant I think and its in another state). So while the crop footprint is generally smaller than cow milk, the packaging is causing another Massive Issue. Landfill is one of the primary contributors to methane accumulation in the atmosphere (alongside livestock) so it really feels like such a lose-lose situation OTL Especially when you consider that for every bottle of cow milk, you go through two oat milk paks because they come in 1L instead of 2L.

At least cow milk bottles get recycled. I just hope that with increasing use of alternative milks maybe more recycling plants will open up for this type of packaging? Because they can be recycled but you need special machinery. Similarly with blister packs (the pharmaceutical companies should be paying for that one 100%).

And I like being able to store heaps of oat milk in the cupboard and not have to worry about it spoiling because it lasts ages! Its cheaper and easier. I do also like UHT cow milk also.

Better sustainability practices are achievable but it seems so impossible when you have no money to set yourself up for less plastic, and things touted as "better alternatives" still have massive impacts.

It shouldn't be this damn hard to cut plastic out of my life >:(