Paper carton shortage disrupts milk supply in school lunches in Monroe County, elsewhere
School districts in Monroe County and throughout the Northeast are scrambling to keep milk available for their students after a milk carton supply chain breakdown.
There is still enough milk but not enough cartons to put it in. Upstate Niagara Cooperative, the supplier for nearly every district in the Rochester area, informed districts this week that the shortage could mean an end to half-pint milk cartons for the rest of the year at least.
Instead it is offering to ship half-gallon containers of white and chocolate milk to districts for them to pour into cups themselves — a logical solution but one that could be challenging for cafeteria workers who are usually already time-stressed.
Local districts are responding to the issue in different ways.
Some, such as Greece, Spencerport and Wheatland-Chili, will pour milk into cups, as the state Education Department recommended.
Others, including Rochester and Rush-Henrietta, will stop serving milk for the time being.
Those districts normally would not be reimbursed for meals served without milk, but the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture said it would permit states to waive that requirement until the shortage abates.
State Assemblyman Chris Tague, a former dairy farmer, named Pactiv Evergreen as the company at the heart of the problem. It is one of the largest beverage packaging companies in the world.
"With so many clients and requests, the company just can't seem to keep up with demand," he wrote in a statement.
Prisons and hospitals are among the other major purchasers of milk cartons.
We're in the middle of a national crisis. W/ a shortage of paperboard, companies like Evergreen Packaging are struggling to provide materials needed for packaging milk for schools, prisons, hospitals & other facilities that serve nutrient rich meals. Read the full release below. pic.twitter.com/Oyv1PnkNwc
— Chris Tague (@chrisWCtague) November 2, 2023
Pactiv Evergreen representatives did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Earlier this year the company announced a restructuring of its beverage merchandising operations, including closing plants in Canton, North Carolina, and Olmsted Falls, Ohio.
Environmental groups have recently called on schools to switch to milk dispensers rather than half-pint cartons in order to reduce waste; the present crisis could lead some districts to consider it.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Milk carton shortage threatens milk supply at schools
