Plastic vs. Glass: A Breakdown of the Prose Packaging

prose hair care packaging
Mar 18 2021,
By: Prose
-
2 Min read

Prose has had sustainability on the mind since inception—hence the custom, made-to-order zero-waste nature of our products. And, we will always strive to improve wherever possible As a certified B Corporation, our company is driven by care and committed to transparency. One of our commitments is to the environment. We’re currently working on  being carbon neutral, and are close to our goal. Stay tuned for an announcement very soon! Another way we consciously put the environment first is by using sustainably sourced ingredients in our products. Speaking of our products, have you ever wondered why most Prose products come in plastic packaging instead of glass? Or maybe why the bottles have an amber tint to them? Well, we’ve got all that and more covered below. Read on to learn about five factors that impact our packaging decisions.

Table of Contents

    1. Why we love our amber bottles

    Packaging isn’t just about what looks good: it plays an important role in keeping ingredients fresh and preventing formula breakdown. We use amber-tinted bottles to protect active ingredients from sun exposure to keep your formulas effective without having to add preservatives.

    2. The importance of our BPA-free plastic

    Clean ingredients should extend to your packaging as well: some plastics and most aluminum packaging contain BPA (aka bisphenol A), which has been linked to adverse health effects. To prevent the chance of any harmful chemicals leaching into formulas, we use food-grade, BPA-free bottles and conduct tests to confirm formula and packaging compatibility.

    3. We keep you safe

    Nobody wants their order to break during shipping, much less in the shower. That’s why we opt for plastic for most of our products—so any slight shower slip won’t turn into anything dangerous. We will continue to opt for glass for non-shower products, like our hair oil, whenever possible.

    4. How we keep our carbon emissions down

    This is a big one. Both plastic and glass are energy-inefficient to produce but glass weighs around 40 times more than plastic, which means higher fuel costs and significantly higher carbon emissions from shipping. Glass packaging must be reused 3 times to lower its footprint to that of single-use plastic. To offset this, Prose is working towards becoming carbon neutral for 2020, and we’re working to reduce our carbon emissions even more this year.

    Based on all of these factors, we use BPA-free plastic bottles for most of our products. They are recyclable but we also encourage you to get more out of them by reusing or up-cycling them before recycling. It’s not a perfect solution and we consistently re-evaluate based on advancements in packaging so we look forward to continuing to evolve!

    5. The hard truth about recycling

    Recycling in the United States can be tricky: for now, we encourage people to check with their local curbside recycling program for details on their area’s recycling practices. Another step you can take right now is opt to reuse your bottle’s pumps, and we’ll ship your next order with recyclable caps instead. Every little bit counts!

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