Why we chose plastic bottles
A difficult decision
When I founded I·DO Bio, I faced a major challenge: Should we bottle our juices in glass or plastic bottles?
Of course, glass initially seemed like the best choice—more environmentally friendly, higher quality, more stylish. Many juice bars in my hometown of New York use glass bottles, and I·DO was originally intended to be a juice bar itself. But when we decided to sell our juices online, the decision became even more complicated.
Glass is (unfortunately) not the solution.
Put yourself in our shoes: We ship our juices chilled via express delivery so they arrive fresh the next day. Glass bottles weigh significantly more than plastic bottles. This means:
🚛 Higher energy consumption during transport → More CO₂ emissions
📦 Higher shipping costs → Not economically viable
⚠️ Fragile → High risk of breakage during shipping
But the biggest problem: Our cold-pressed juices undergo HPP (High Pressure Processing) to guarantee a 30-day shelf life. Glass bottles wouldn't withstand this pressure – they would simply shatter.
A shelf life of only three days would not be feasible for our concept. Our customers – especially those doing a juice cleanse – rely on their juices staying fresh for several days or even two weeks.
Why is plastic the best option?
We use BPA-free, recyclable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles .
✅ No harmful plasticizers such as BPA
✅ Never heated or chemically treated
✅ Recyclable & lightweight for a lower CO₂ footprint
Yes, plastic isn't perfect – but in our situation, it's the more sustainable choice. We avoid unnecessary environmental impact from excessive transport emissions and unnecessary breakage. And most importantly: we enable more people to enjoy high-quality, 100% organic, cold-pressed juice .
Conclusion: The mission counts
In a perfect world, glass would be as light as plastic – but we don't live in a perfect world. Politics remains opaque, the food industry continues to rely on additives, and large corporations obscure their environmental impact.
We had to make a compromise to advance our mission: to provide more people with fresh, untreated, organically certified juices.
So: Reuse our bottles or recycle them. And above all – juice responsibly!
Stay fresh,
Alex
