Recycling Soy Milk Containers

For a long time, we bought soy milk in what is known as aseptic packaging, those boxes that you find unrefrigerated on the shelves. We bought these because we are pretty picky about what’s in our soy milk: Most of the brands that you find in the refrigerated aisle are completely loaded with thickeners and sugar and oil and yuck. I’m not terribly keen on the idea of enriching the soy milk with vitamins either, because if I’m going to take a vitamin as a pill, fine, but otherwise, I prefer vitamins from their original source, which is to say, the food from which they originate.

So in the unrefrigerated aisle full of soy milk, there are more options to be found. When we were near Trader Joe’s, I chose their brand of organic soy milk which just had two ingredients: filtered water and organic soy beans. Likewise, when we moved away from Trader Joe’s, I chose Westsoy’s unsweetened organic soy milk. Same deal.

unrecyclable

But something really started to bother me about buying these soy milks — the packages were ending up in our garbage after consuming them. Our recycling center does not accept aseptic packaging.

I went back to the natural food store and investigated some more… and I found the most beautiful thing:

A locally-manufactured soy milk with two ingredients, water and soybeans, that is organic, similarly-priced, and totally recyclable! In fact, all of The Tofu Shop’s local products come in recyclable containers. While The Tofu Shop doesn’t buy local soy beans, their beans are GMO-free and organic, and they produce all their products locally, so the transportation of items needing refrigeration turns out to be a short ride. It’s neat to poke around the photographs on their website to see how soy milk and tofu are made.

fresh flavor

I need to say too that I really enjoy the fresh flavor of locally-made soy milk. Even the simplicity of Trader Joe’s and Westsoy products don’t compare — their soy milk lacks the flavor of soy!! This might be a turn-on for some people, wishing only to escape the harmful nature of cow’s milk and to find a bland replacement, but I really enjoy the true flavor of soy beans and The Tofu Shop delivers.

if you are stuck with aseptic packaging

Some areas do recycle aseptic packaging, so if you don’t have any awesome companies like The Tofu Shop supplying your area, maybe you have a super awesome recycling center! Check out your local recycling center’s guidelines for what they do and do not accept. A recycling center in Colorado that does recycle aseptic containers describes the layers of the package:

Many non-refrigerated juice and beverage cartons have a foil lining on the inside, a plastic polymer lining on the outside, and paper on the inside. These layers are challenging to separate for recycling but we are accepting them.

Then they bring up an interesting point regarding the ecological advantage to aseptic packaging:

These aseptic cartons are designed such that the products do not have to be refrigerated until the container is opened, which saves energy by avoiding refrigerated transportation and makes these products an environmental plus.

So it’s not that these containers are inherently evil or anything, just that they require a bit of thought.

The Casual Vegan