Baby Food Jars?

[hmlove1218]

This may seem a little strange, but do you think customers would buy things like scrubs and body butter that are packaged in a recycled glass baby food jar? Im asking because i have a 1yo and i buy tons of the stuff and i think they would be a green method of packaging.

Obviously it would be boiled and sterilized before use and i would remove the labels and paint the top a different color so that it has no tie back to the original company.

 

[Seawolfe]

I would if it was obvious they were clean and well presented, I mean mason jars can be reused indefinitely with new lids for food and nobody minds. I like the look of repurposed stuff when it's done well.

 

[lenarenee]

I would, unless the underside of the lid was stained with the color of the jar's previous contents. A lot of people who re-use their glass jar for various things so I wouldn't think they'd be put off by it.

 

[Relle]

Personally, I wouldn't as it doesn't look very professional :thumbdown:, I would expect to get those type of things at a school fete.
I only re use those type of jars when making jams and chutneys to give to people I know.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I'm with Relle on this one. When giving things to people, I'll use any suitable and clean jar that I have at that time. When I come to sell products, I'll be buying packaging specifically for it.

Would you be happy if the jars that the baby food came in had been used for something else before hand? Especially when you are buying it rather than getting a gift from a friend.

 

[hmlove1218]

Hmm.. Interesting points. I was just wondering because one of the brands i buy just changed their jar design so it no longer looks like a "typical" baby food jar. Ill post a picture of it

 

[shunt2011]

Nope, I wouldn't sell products in reused jars. I don't sell anything in glass as I'm afraid someone my cut themselves if/when dropped.

 

[LunaSkye]

As a customer, I wouldn't mind buying something in a reused jar provided that it was cleaned & sterilized thoroughly. However, I do not see myself buying a scrub or cream in such a jar as it looks troublesome to use. Maybe if it were candles or bath-salts, though.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

As a customer, I wouldn't mind buying something in a reused jar provided that it was cleaned & sterilized thoroughly...........

That is the biggest issue - knowing if it has been or not.

A note with jars, especially when it comes to selling, is that the lids are often branded and that is not going to come off :-?

 

[pamielynn]

Personally my only issue is that once that vacuum seal is broken, the lids just never seem to fit as tightly as before, so I wouldn't put lotion in them. But I actually buy little jars that look like baby food jars from Freund for a salve I make. And the Gentleman has a point about the branded lid

 

[navigator9]

If a friend gave me a product that they had made, in reused jars, I'd have no problem with it. But if I were buying a product, I wouldn't want it to be packaged in used jars.

 

[maya]

No, I doubt very much you could really get the lids sterile. Perhaps if you had an autoclave you could be a regular dishwasher couldn't do it.

 

[hmlove1218]

I plan to boil them if i decide to use them. Im still on the fence about it. I would do a trial run first though before i completely switched. That way i could customer feed back about them

 

[Lion Of Judah]

i have a fellow member at another forum that do use baby food style jars for her scrubs and body butters and i do not see anything wrong with them . nice labeling and packaging brings a whole new product to the table.

 

[Dorymae]

If you really want to do it, make sure you have the equipment to sterilize the jars fully. Alcohol or soaking in bleach is not going to cut it. (EDIT: Just saw you said boil them.....please consider doing so in a pressure cooker not on your stove top. Regular boiling does not get high enough to kill bacteria in a higher ph then 4, which is why a pressure cooker is used to can vegtables.) At the very least buy new caps. Those caps on baby jars are not meant to be reused and shouldn't be.

Only if you can do those things would I even consider reusing them and then I would not advertise that fact!! It will turn off a lot of people because they can't be sure of your practices.

One more thing, if you do this please test it out for a few months before selling. Make a batch, jar it as usual, then leave one out opened in the bathroom, leave one open in another room, use one, leave some closed. Check for bacteria count after 3 months before selling them. This way YOU can be sure of your practices.