There's a really delicate balance between cost, quality, sustainability, and marketability when we're thinking about how we develop our products and package them and get them in front of folks. The math has to work for the whole system or it will fall apart.
When we first launched the retail line, it was in glass. We found our customers chose volume over local production and excellent quality oil, all else being equal (glass container & cost). Our plastic bottles are manufactured right here in PA. And as much as we're all about sustainability, we're equally about elevating local agriculture and small business in PA.
We are worried about Earth and single-use plastics, too. But sometimes we have to think about our total efforts versus individual decisions, and at this time the net positive of getting more local oil in front of more people, thereby increasing demand for local farmers' local crops, and having our packaging manufactured in-state (and the attendant economic benefits of that), outweighs the concern about single-use plastics, and our plastic bottles are recyclable!
At this time, we have no plan to switch back to glass; we are always researching post-consumer plastic materials, cost, and availability, we're excited, too, about the potential for hemp plastics at some point in the not-too-distant future.
We have been talking about how to add bulk service to our retail offerings -- If you're a retailer reading this and you'd like to talk about local bulk oil, please reach out to sales@susquehannamills.com.
Please do know that we're always looking for ways to move away from petroleum-reliant practices and greater sustainability, so stay tuned; if we come up with something amazing, we'll certainly shout about it on social media.
