Glass Delivers for Health and "Green" Conscious Consumers

Traders Point Creamery, Organic Meadow, Oberweis Dairy, and More Offer Wholesome Milk and Other Dairy Products in Pure Glass Bottles

Increasingly available in grocery stores and through traditional milkman delivery services, farm-fresh milk in glass bottles is making its way back into homes across the U.S. Several dairies, highlighted below, have introduced or reintroduced glass bottles for milk and other dairy products to meet consumer demand and environmental objectives.

“Packaging milk in glass is an American tradition and a decision that is proven to be healthy for you and the environment,” says Joseph Cattaneo, GPI president. “Glass is 100% pure, which protects the ‘farm-fresh’ taste of milk, and is 100% recyclable and reusable.”

In fact, researchers report a trend toward glass packaging as the first choice of consumers who say they care about the environment and their individual and family health*. Nearly 60% of consumers believe glass packaging is “best suited to a healthy lifestyle.” And while 83.1% of consumers think plastic containers have added chemicals, only 11.9% think glass does. And dairies are responding.

Traders Point Creamery, located in Zionsville, Indiana, packages its whole milk, chocolate milk, and yogurt in glass bottles. The company’s 100% grass-fed, certified organic Brown Swiss cows produce non-homogenized milk that is high in essential vitamins and minerals, and the European-style yogurt has been voted “America’s Best” by the American Cheese Society for the last two years. Traders Point Creamery is a strong believer in glass—it gives the consumer a pure product in an easily recycled package.

Consumer feedback on the Traders Point Creamery glass packaging has been fantastic. Demand for the company’s organic milk in glass bottles led the company to switch to glass jars, manufactured by Saint-Gobain Containers, for its line of fromage blanc (spreadable farmstead cheese). “The glass jars that we use for our fromage blanc are based on an elegant European jar that we discovered,” said Jane Elder Kunz and Dr. Peter Kunz.

Traders Point Creamery has received resounding customer feedback. Moms appreciate the glass containers because they do not want their children drinking from plastic containers. Consumers love the way the products look, and how the size and shape of the glass jars make the products easy to handle. One fan said “things just taste better in glass”. Consumers also reuse the glass containers to store leftovers, as drinking glasses, to hold tools, and as stemless wine glasses.

Responding to consumer requests for glass containers, one of Canada’s bestselling organic milk companies, Organic Meadow, Inc., introduced a new glass bottle called “Traditions” in honor of the company’s 20th anniversary in 2009. The company is Canada’s first organic dairy co-op with production starting in 1995. Organic Meadow currently distributes the glass milk bottles throughout Ontario, and success with the line has encouraged the company to expand this style of offering in the future.

“We’ve received extremely positive feedback from our customers and retailers about the Traditions line,” said Angelo Eleusiniotis, Sales Manager, Organic Meadow, Inc. “From an environmental perspective, we’re also seeing a lot of success. We’re receiving 90% of our bottles back, and they are being reused over and over again. Glass is a sustainable package that speaks to organic and sustainable farming.”

Vitro Packaging recently helped Tizalac launch its line of products for the Mexican market, including milk in a refundable, returnable glass bottle and yogurt in three different flavors. In addition to the milk bottle, Vitro is developing the label and promotional materials to promote the sales of the Tizalac products.

“We are very enthusiastic as we observe that the market values the benefits of consumer products packaged in glass, a material that is environmentally friendly, as it is 100 percent recyclable,” explains Gabriel González Rocha, Commercial Manager of Vitro Food and Container Distributors.

Milk delivery services are also making a comeback. While Oberweis Dairy, based in Aurora, Illinois, has been in business for over half a century delivering glass bottled milk to parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Michigan, new companies, such as Manhattan Milk, are making sure city folk also have access to local milk delivered in nostalgic glass bottles.

According to the Oberweis Dairy website, “Our tens of thousands of home delivery customers will tell you that the best and truest tasting milk comes in glass bottles.” The dairy purchases milk from small family-owned dairy farms, and then a milkman will deliver it directly to your door. Oberweis Dairy will collect the empty glass bottles, and wash and sterilize them for reuse. The company has also increased the financial incentive for customers to return their glass milk bottles for reuse to prove an even more environmentally-friendly business.

Manhattan Milk sources organic milk from 20 farms in Pennsylvania’s Amish country. The company offers whole, 1%, skim, and chocolate milk in 100% recyclable and reusable glass bottles. Manhattan Milk picks up empty bottles from its customers in the Manhattan region to reuse again and again.

*Survey conducted by telephone in July 2009 by Newton Marketing Research, Norman, Oklahoma, in conjunction with Doyle Yoon, PhD. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.7%.