Organic dairy producer Simon Schulz has seen a recent resurgence in the popularity of glass milk bottles.
Since beginning to sell milk in glass bottles in October 2017, Mr Schulz has seen the demand for reusable and sustainable food packaging grow.
While he originally only planned to sell up to 40 bottles a week, he has seen demand soar to the point where he now produces up to 400 bottles per week.
Mr Schulz said he uses farmer’s markets as a testing ground.
“I think people are sick of seeing in the media and in the environment all this waste, so I think they’re moving towards more sustainable packaging,” he said.
Speaking to the ABC, Mr Schulz said he had noticed a significant increase in the glass milk bottles since a decision in China to ban 24 types of solid waste which in turn disrupted Australia’s waste management industry.
“We already do so much for the sustainability of the farm and the environment here on site but the one thing we weren’t tackling was the sustainability on the waste and packaging,” Mr Schulz said.
“Since the announcement we’ve had a huge influx of customers interested in our sustainable packaging, which is scary.”
Part of Mr Schulz’s process is to have customers return the glass bottles to the farmers’ markets where they can then be reused.
“We’re gearing up to potentially do up to 10,000 bottles a week, which would save around 500 kilos of plastic a week,” he said.
“There’s still huge demand from retailers now for wanting us to get the glass bottles to them and not just the farmers’ markets.”