In a world where toxic exposures come from seemingly everywhere, it’s understandable that there are many who wish to limit their exposure by any means possible – us included.
Which explains why we often have customers ask why it is that we have chosen to bottle our product in plastic versus glass. Being the conscientious company that we are when it comes to our high quality products and our eco-friendly business practices, I wanted to take a moment to explain our decision in more detail.
So, why is our Ancient Minerals magnesium line packaged in plastic rather than glass?
Firstly, I do want to point out that we had initially wanted to use solely glass packaging – it was indeed one of our goals. However, our good intentions were crushed by reality when we started pricing what the average shipping cost would be for heavy glass + heavy fluid. On the consumer end, the cost would have been untenable, but also the weight of the product being shipped would mean an increase in fossil fuel usage as well. Although, yes, it could be argued that plastics use fossil fuels in production…which is why we encourage our customers to purchase the larger sizes to help minimize plastic consumption (and to recycle when possible).
Also, the fact that we ship both within the U.S. and internationally means that the product will sometimes make quite a journey before it arrives at its destination. With glass packaging, in order to ensure that the order arrived in one piece we would have needed thicker boxes along with increased protective wrapping, and even then, the large sizes (such as the 64oz) would still have had a high chance of breakage en route. All of those reasons combined were more than compelling when it came to finally settling on plastic packaging.
Is your plastic packaging safe?
After researching various types of plastics and what would be the safest option for our product and customers, we landed on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) for the majority of our bottles. This type of plastic is extremely durable, non-leaching, BPA-free, recyclable (#2) and can withstand high temperatures (230°F). We obtain them locally and have confidence in the quality of the packaging as well as the manufacturer.
Our 6.5lb bath flake jars are polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) . Although we still feel confident that the risk of leaching (antimony/pthalate) to the flakes in minimal*, those who are stringently opposed will want to avoid this size option. Both the 1.65lb & 32lb bath flake options are of the safe, HPDE material.
If you have any questions regarding any of our products or packaging, please do not hesitate to ask.
*To help keep leaching to a minimum, keep product stored out of direct heat or sunlight, preferably in a cool, dry area.