We like to buy milk in reusable glass jugs, such as Smiling Hill Farm sells locally. Admitted, delivering the milk in heavy glass jugs – the old-fashioned kind the milkman used to bring ’round – requires more fuel than in lighter-weight plastic or cartons.

On the plus side, though, the glass jugs are reusable. Reusable again and again, and using something multiple times is better for the environment than merely recycling it.

Plus, the glass jugs are made from sand and limestone, resources we aren’t in danger of running out of anytime soon, unlike the fossil fuels required to make plastic jugs. As for the cardboard, environmental experts say that’s the worse choice of the three.

To recap, we like to buy milk in returnable glass jugs. But we’ve long had a pet peeve about them – they’re hard to pour from without spilling.

In our house, some of the milk always dribbles down the jug. Granted, it’s a minor annoyance, but it’s just the sort of thing we fear could make people less likely to buy their milk in glass jugs. That’s why we were excited, gleeful really, a few weeks ago when we saw a reusable spout being sold at the Smiling Hill Farm store in Westbrook.

Problem solved! And it cost just 99 cents.

— PEGGY GRODINSKY