The everyday glass milk bottle has been voted by leading experts as the most iconic glass packaging in the UK.
Seeing off competition from popular classics such as Heinz Tomato Sauce and Coca Cola, the single pint reusable glass milk bottle won out thanks to its instantly recognisable shape, perfectly suited design and enduring sustainable, made-to-be-reused credentials.
As part of the UN International Year of Glass 2022 celebrations, experts from the worlds of packaging, retail, manufacturing and plastic-free living were brought together to choose the UK’s top 10 glass bottles and jars.
Commenting on the process, Waqas Qureshi, news editor of Packaging News said:
“It was a thoroughly informative judging session, with the panel assessing contenders for their iconic status, as well as their sustainability and user-friendly credentials. It was fitting that while we all had different suggestions for the final top ten, we were unanimous in choosing the simple glass milk bottle for the undisputed winner”.
Also on the panel was Jenni Richards, Federation Manager at British Glass:
“I found the process of choosing my top 10 iconic glass bottles and jars difficult as there are so many wonderful contenders! Even easily distinguishable classics such as Ribena, Orangina, Marmite and Jack Daniels didn’t make it into our final shortlist. I think the milk bottle absolutely deserves its number one spot. Milk is synonymous with child nutrition and what better to convey such a pure liquid in than in safe, chemically inactive glass”.
Iain Ferguson, an award-winning environmental consultant who was Environmental Manager at The Co-Operative supermarket said:
“The judging was great fun, and there were so many possible containers that we could have chosen from. Even deciding between the iconic entries on our shortlist was difficult. However, the top two entries virtually chose themselves - the glass milk bottle and the Moët and Chandon Champagne bottle. While they are at different ends of the price scale, they are both associated with important events - breakfast and celebrations! I'm looking forward to seeing whether the general public agree with us."
The public it turns out didn’t quite agree, although it was very close. Kate Jones, the panel’s fourth judge, invited her followers at my_plastic_free_home on Instagram to choose their favourite from the list. The result was the number one place went to the hugely popular Bonne Maman jam jar.
Kate said:
“Nearly 12,000 votes were made across the 10 categories, and it was great to see the Bonne maman jam jar made it to the number one spot followed closely followed by the judges’ favourite, the good old milk bottle. There’s no doubt, the Bonne maman jar is a worthy winner. Not only is it instantly recognisable, it’s also a top tier jar for reusing around the home! “
