Glass vs. Plastic – Thoughts?

A week or so ago, another employee and I were discussing one of our bath product lines, and trying to figure out if the glass packaging was more environmentally friendly than plastic packaging. With this discussion in mind, I have been trying to learn enough on the topic to form an opinion on the matter. The problem is that the more I learn, the more confused I become. I think I am coming down tentatively on the side of glass packaging – especially for food products, and cosmetics/bath products, but I welcome comments!
Glass is problematic when it comes to the total energy usage required to produce, ship, and recycle it. Glass is made of sand that is heated to temperatures high enough to melt it, and then cooled quickly. This process is energy intensive because it requires such high temperatures, and fossil fuels are often used to produce this energy. Glass requires much more energy to produce than plastics. Glass is also heavier than plastic, and therefore requires more fossil fuels to be burned for transportation than plastic. Also, there is more danger of product wastage when using glass, because glass packaging is more prone to breaking than plastic packaging. Glass also requires more energy input than plastic to break it down when recycling.
However…..!!! Plastics are made from un-refined petroleum which is un-renewable. Also, many types of plastic can leach harmful chemicals into your food, bath products, and cosmetics. Additionally, if the packaging gets tossed away as litter, or put in a land-fill (and is not sent for recycling, tsk, tsk, and you know who you are…) glass will not leach chemicals into the environment as it sits. Plastic takes 600 years to break down when left in the environment, and in the mean-time, it releases polluting compounds which leach into the soil and water. Also, if glass finds its way to our oceans, it breaks down into little pieces of sea glass (rounded, smoothed, pebble-like pieces of glass, that many people collect at the beach and use in jewellery, and decorating). However, when plastic finds it way into our oceans, it simply floats around, and there are island sized deposits of garbage which have collected, and are floating around in our oceans – gross! Sometimes, sea animals eat this plastic, mistaking it for food, and it makes them sick, or can cause death.

So far then, I come down on the side of glass packaging because:

- I am selfish, and don’t want toxic chemicals leaching into the products I use and consume – even small, “harmless” levels of exposure!
- I like sea glass – even though it’s a product of pollution, it’s pretty! We have even sold products made from sea glass at P’Lovers!
- I don’t like the idea of people’s old plastic containers and packaging releasing any level of toxins into ground water and soil!
- I am hoping that humans as a species will move away from fossil fuels as a means of energy production, and as this happens, the levels of air pollution associated with glass production will go down! (I know, this is based on hope only, but we have to be optimistic, or else nothing will change!)

That’s All!
Mackenzie