AS the world slowly shifts away from using plastic, a south-west dairy says moving to glass bottles will help reduce its environmental footprint.
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Simon Schulz, from Timboon’s Schulz Organic Dairy, estimated that by using glass bottles it could prevent 30 tonnes of plastic ending up in landfill every year.
The dairy has trialed one litre glass bottles with customers at farmers’ markets and Mr Schulz said the initiative had received good feedback.
He said his reasoning behind the move was to lessen the business’s impact on the environment. If the decision paid off, then other dairies could follow suit.
“If we’re successful, others may do it too,” he said. “At the end of the day we’re a business and our business is determined by what the market wants.”
Mr Schulz said although the business had a strong focus on being sustainable and the current bottles were recyclable, they were only single-use bottles. “We really felt in the last 12 months we needed to do something,” he said. “The only option we can see that’s sustainable is glass bottles.”
The only option we can see that’s sustainable is glass bottles.
- Simon Schulz
To kick-start the initiative, a crowd funding campaign will be launched in a fortnight to help with the cost of launching glass bottles to Schulz Organic Dairy’s retailers.
Mr Schulz said if $60,000 was raised then the dairy could produce 3000 glass bottles into the market. If $500,000 was raised the dairy’s entire milk production could be produced in bottles. The bottles would be returnable and refillable.
The initiative coincides with Mr Schulz recently receiving the Trailblazer award from the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.