Looking at Glass

Looking at Glass?

Let’s stop for a moment, stop looking through the glass, and take at closer look at it. It’s made from natural and abundant raw materials. Sand (or silica), sodium carbonate, and lime or calcium oxide. It’s been around for about 5000 years. The first glass was probably made in Egypt.

Fast forward to 2021 and it’s everywhere. You look through it, drink from it, make bowls, vases, and the list goes on and on. Glass is an important part of everyday life.

It’s also a hero when it comes to reducing your waste.

REUSABLE – able to be washed and reused safely thousands of times.

INFINITELY RECYCLABLE – it can always be recycled into a new product when it reaches the end of its life.

NON TOXIC – glass won’t leach harmful toxins if it ends up in landfill and won’t harm the ocean. (Have you ever thrown a message in a bottle into the sea?)

Then, of course, there’s the glass milk bottle.

It wasn’t that long ago that glass was the only option for your milk. Milk companies moved to petroleum-based plastics as a cheaper, more convenient option as they became more industrialised and centralised. It’s cheaper to produce, lighter to transport long distances and you don’t have to clean bottles. Sounds good, right? What about the planet?

Fact: Do you know that most plastic bottled milk in the shop comes from Christchurch or Auckland? None of it is produced locally.

Most plastic is made from finite fossil fuels. Yes, plastic milk bottles can be recycled but some (the big milk companies own figures) estimate that only 30% makes it to the recycling bin with the rest ending up in landfill where it takes at least 450 years for it to decompose!

At Farm Fresh South, along with a growing number of small, local dairy producers around the country, we’re bringing back the glass. We take milk from our own small farm and others who care about their people, animals and land as much as you do, and bottle it in glass. We’re on a mission to bring back local milk in glass bottles. We want it to become the norm again. Real milk – better taste, better planet.

So far, our customers have saved over 250,000 plastic milk bottles from being used! Great effort! That number is increasing faster every day.

We’re working day and night (literally) to make it available everywhere. You can get home deliveries, fill your own at the vending machines, supermarkets, dairies, and cafes. Right now, you can get your hands on it from Stewart Island to Wanaka, Dunedin and everywhere in between.

We produce whole pasteurised milk, raw milk (we’re MPI certified suppliers), and chocolate milk. Soon you’ll also be able to have light milk, cream, and new flavours. All in glass! The more people that come on board to help us achieve the mission of bringing back local milk in glass bottles the quicker we’ll be able to get there. We’re looking forward to having you on the journey with us.