The Vermont Juice Company is an extremely environmentally conscious company, therefore, this part of our process was no exception when we did our due diligence in making our decision.
Below are just a few of the factors we considered when we decided to use a #1 recyclable, BPA-free, PET plastic bottle (the most highly recyclable plastic!) for the majority of our juices.
Note: Although we primarily use plastic bottles, glass bottles are available by custom request when ordering your juice ahead of time ($1/bottle surcharge will be added).
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Glass is obviously a breakable material, while plastic is not, so breakage during shipping can be an ongoing issue with glass, which creates waste, additional costs, and safety hazards.
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Due to being fragile and breakable, glass requires a lot of excess packing materials to prevent breakage, where plastic requires next to none.
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Glass consumes nearly twice as much energy to produce as plastic (source: Carnegie Mellon University Green Design Institute, 2008). The fossil fuels required to generate the very high temperatures needed to form glass are just one of the considerations.
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Glass jars/bottles weigh 8 (yes, EIGHT) times as much as the plastic bottles we use. That additional weight uses much more fuel and energy to ship.
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Glass is roughly 3 times the cost (both in product and shipping costs). Those costs would eventually be passed along to the consumer one way or another, via deposit, or the end product.
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Glass produces nearly three times more air pollution than plastic (source: Carnegie Mellon University Green Design Institute, 2008). The pollution created by fossil fuels needed to manufacture glass, transport the glass, and ship the final product is significantly increased.
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Glass creates nearly seven times more global warming gases than plastic (source: Carnegie Mellon University Green Design Institute, 2008).
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Glass recycle rates are only slightly higher than plastic (source: State of California Dept. of Conservation, 2007).
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While re-using glass bottles and jars is certainly a very important benefit, the water consumption necessary to wash every jar or bottle that is re-used would be extremely excessive, essentially eliminating the intended environmental benefit. The labor and sanitation management required to wash the bottles or jars would also be significant.
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A portion of our business involves shipping and delivering orders near and far. Because of this, there are a few reasons that plastic bottles are a greener and more cost-effective choice: 1.) As mentioned above, glass is breakable, and therefore requires a lot of excess packing materials (waste) to prevent breakage, where plastic bottles require next to none. 2.) Glass weighing up to 8 times as much as our plastic bottles, means MUCH higher shipping rates = much higher cost to the customer. 3.) Glass being heavier also means requiring a significant amount more fuel to ship and transport it, compared to lightweight plastic bottles.
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Storage and inventory management of re-usable glass jars and bottles would not be a viable practice for our business. Keeping track of an indefinable number of incoming re-used jars, while possibly needing to order new jars to account for those that aren't returned, is an extreme undertaking that, in the end, is very difficult to maintain. With thousands of bottles in inventory at all times, managing the storage space needed, as well as inventory, is A LOT of work.
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We were advised by our state Hazard Analysis Inspector not to use glass bottles due to the safety risks caused by shattered/broken glass bottles in our production kitchen. When glass shatters, there is no sure way to know where all the pieces end up. We do not want to be liable for stray shards of glass ending up in your juice.
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We believe in practicing the highest possible levels of safety and sanitation, which means using a Tamper-Resistant Package (which our plastic bottles/caps are). Using and re-using glass containers would make meeting this standard extremely difficult in our facility, as many glass containers such as mason jars are not sealed or tamper resistant.
We believe our decision to use primarily plastic bottles, for our business model to function efficiently while also being environmentally conscious, is the right one. We strive to be a company committed to sustainability, whether it is through supporting local farms/suppliers/products, recycling everything we can, using compostable cups, bowls, spoons, straws, & napkins, saving gas by making our local deliveries in a hybrid vehicle, conserving water by reducing the need to wash mass quantities of bottles, encouraging customers to use reusable bags (or return one of our paper bags or 6-pack carriers for 10 cents off your purchase!), reusing/repurposing old discarded wood to build all of our counters and displays in our store, or through feeding local farm animals with our produce pulp/compost. We are extremely aware of our actions and impact, and we'll continually evolve in this process -- and if a more ecologically friendly solution presents itself, we will do our best to incorporate it into our manufacturing. Thank you so much for taking the time to learn, and for being so thoughtful about the environment!