The cartons were messy — but the fix might be messier.
The switch to milk dispensers wasn’t driven by environmental goals, but by complaints about dirty cartons. While the dispensers keep milk cold and fresh, they’ve also introduced new problems: spills, wasted milk, extra cleanup, and increased use of plastic cups.
The change to dispensers, originally made to address carton complaints, has sparked mixed reaction among cafeteria staff, students, and parents. The new system brings logistical challenges — from heavy five-gallon bags to cup waste and slower lines — that make some question whether it’s truly an improvement over cartons. While the milk stays colder and expiration dates are clearer, concerns about spills, contamination, and overall messiness continue to shape the debate.
“We put in the milk dispensers because it is colder and fresher. The milk cartons were getting gross. They were spilling on each other, and it was making our milk seem like it was bad, when really it wasn’t. It was just milk on the cartons, on the outside, but the inside of the milk was still good,” Karen Rodriguez, Bullitt East’s cafeteria manager said.
Instead of thoughts on environmental impact, the actual reason for the milk dispensers was the complaints about dirty milk cartons. This switch assures that the milk is fresh and keeps temperature. Students no longer worry about milk expiration as it is clearly labelled on the bags and ordered three times a week.
“It’s just messier because now we have to wash our cups whereas before everything was thrown away, and the kids are filling up themselves. They do spill a little bit so it is messier,” Rodriguez said.
While the concerns on milk quality are assuaged, many now question whether the change is truly cleaner. Students now put leftover milk into buckets and spill when using the dispenser along with the transport to their seat.
“It’s never actually clean. There’s always milk on it [table] and a lot of people are throwing the plastic cups away,” Sebastian Gallai, a junior at Bullitt East who eats school lunch everyday, said.
Gallai has seen cups being thrown away instead of placed into racks to be washed by careless students. He feels that the milk dispensers are messier than the milk cartons and dislikes the spills that he sees.
“No [the milk dispensers did not stay], because there was a plan to get away from the plastics and the cardboard containers were better for the environment, and then also, milk didn’t get wasted, because a lot of kids would go and fill up a big cup of milk, take two drinks of it and then throw it away. So a lot of milk was being dispensed, but not a lot of milk was being drunk,” Steve Wall, a parent with previous experience of milk dispensers in school said.
In Wall’s school the milk dispensers were gotten rid of due to the overall hassle they caused. The waste and environmental impact made the school resume the cartons. This allowed students who grabbed milk but didn’t drink it to return it to the cooler unopened leaving it for others instead of dumping it out.
“It’s a five gallon bag, and we had one bust right before the second lunch yesterday. So it’s a lot harder, but the kids seem to be liking it better than the cartons,” Rodriguez said.
The large five gallon bags are difficult for the lunch ladies to maneuver and put into the machine. They have already had an incident of a bag popping which was much more difficult to clean up than before with the eight ounce milk cartons.
“I know the cafeteria lunch ladies liked the cartons better because it was a whole lot less of a mess. And I think the school did a survey on it, and not a lot of the kids like the milk out of the bag,” Wall said.
Contrary to Rodriguez’s thoughts, other instances show a dislike among students. Along with the mess that is created, more machines are being run to clean the cups and keep the milk cold. This additional usage adds to school electricity and water cost.
“No, I felt like milk cartons were a lot easier, even though the milk cartons were a whole lot more environmentally impactful, but then also we ordered like, 50,000 plastic cups, and then also Styrofoam cups, so it kind of counteracts,” Gallai said.
While the main reason for the switch is not environmental impact, and Gallai’s statement is slightly facetious (the number of cups bought was not 50,000), there are concerns on the impact of plastic and styrofoam cups being thrown away. Gallai also commented on the slow lunch lines due to the time it takes to fill up a cup. Overall, Gallai liked the milk cartons much better due to their disposability, cleanliness and ease of access.
