A group from the Climate Issue Team carpooled to Twin Brook Creamery in Lynden in November. It was a wet, dreary day and we were bundled in rain clothes and boots with umbrellas in hand. We were welcomed by owner Larry Stap and with a smile he told us, “No need for those", as he ushered us into a warm, sparkling clean cement building. We were there to learn all about recycling glass bottles.
Our team is interested in working toward the day that we can go backwards in time to replace the plethora of plastic bottles that are poisoning us and use glass—not just any glass but glass that can be returned to the manufacturer to be cleaned and used again.
Larry started his business a number of years ago when many dairy farms in the county were going out of business. He had a dream of selling good, rich milk from his herd of Jersey cows and other dairy products in recyclable bottles to local outlets. It wasn’t long until he realized the startup would be expensive and it was then that a few local investors who believed in his business plan stepped up to fund that dream. Larry is proud to tell us how grateful he is for those investors and the fact that he has paid them all back.
As we walked through the milking plant, Larry explained the business; when we turned the corner, we almost ran into a mammoth machine that took up most of the room. It was a rare, refurbished machine from the 1940’s. According to Larry, these machines were widely used until milk started to be sold in plastic containers. Most of the machines had been scrapped. Consequently, finding a bottle sanitizing machine would be difficult for any new business wanting to start using returnable bottles. Larry gave us a demonstration of placing the bottles in the machine that sent them down through a washing process. They came out the other end a bit wet, but sparking clean and ready to be filled again. The machine is an antique, and looks like it, but Larry says it works great.
Another challenge has been finding a company to produce glass bottles — according to Larry, one company in Ontario, Canada (Stanpac) bought up all the patents for the various types of reusable milk and some other types of glass bottles. They are also one of the few places that make glass bottles with the printing imbedded in the glass.
Distributing glass bottles is not easy either. He has placed his products, Jersey milk, cream and eggnog for the holidays, in Haggens and the food Co-Ops locally and in stores all the way down the coast to Oregon. Larry said it would be helpful if there was an organized program for bottle returns. Consumers do pay a deposit when they buy Twin Brook milk.
It was sobering to see what was involved, but large companies like Coca Cola have the money to set up shop as a major recycler. After all, you can get glass bottles in Europe and Mexico. We are following campaigns to replace plastic with glass and were happy to see it can be done even on a small scale. Larry ended the visit by gifting us all with either a pint of cream or a pint of egg nog... as well as a clearer vision of how using returnable glass bottle sales would work.