Aluminum Bottles for Hair Care

Niche, a Canadian manufacturer of premium hair care products, makes a compelling case for the use of aluminum bottles.

Here’s their justification for the use of aluminum bottles, straight out of their website:

Niche Aluminum Bottle

” So, why aluminum? Aluminum can be recycled endlessly, whereas even recyclable plastic has a limit to how many times it can be recycled before it ends up in a landfill, ocean, park, or animal’s stomach.

Aluminum is valuable, and highly sought after by recyclers and therefore even if it is thrown on the street, it will not lay there for long before someone picks it up for the recycle value.

As a packaging material aluminum is excellent, since it does not rust like metal does, and is more sturdy than plastic.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

But what really got my attention – I was actually quite stunned – was Niche’s mention of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.   This is a floating garbage dump of plastic waste in the North Pacific Ocean that covers an area the size of the continental USA!  Pretty disgusting – and one of the most compelling arguments to quit plastic and go aluminum.

First Aluminum Beer Bottle?

Pilot's Beer Aluminum Bottle

In a previous post, I wrote that the first beer packaged in an aluminum bottle was from Big Sky Brewing in Montana.

It turns out that isn’t quite accurate.

Apparently, Lang Braurei in West Germany brewed some beers in the 1960s which they named after some aviation pioneers such as Charles Lindbergh, Claude Dornier and Hugo Junkers.

They’re not like today’s aluminum bottles which have much sleeker contours.   Indeed the bottles look more like cans if not for the slightly  long necks.

I can’t find much to criticize about the decorating though.  These aluminum bottles are beautiful and have an old-world quality about them that makes them very attractive.

They’re obviously collectors’ items.

Aluminum Bottle for Noni Juice

Aluminum Bottle -Noni Juice

Here’s a beautifully decorated aluminum bottle for noni juice.

I guess I’ve developed some distinct preferences for colors and finishes for aluminum bottles, at least for drinks.

I really do not like the use of the natural, silver-like finish of aluminum when packaging juices and other drinks.  In a word, it looks “sterile”.  It looks too much like the aluminum bottles our company produces for storing industrial chemicals.

So I was glad to see the new aluminum bottle line of Tahitian Noni.  They come in a variety of colors.  I especially like their aluminum bottle in bright green with lemon yellow detailing.

This is another great example of the superior decorating possibilities of aluminum bottles.

First Aluminum Beer Bottle

Big Sky Aluminum Bottle

How about a little historical aluminum bottle trivia?

What was the first aluminum beer bottle in the USA?

Nope – it wasn’t from Anheuser-Busch.  It was from Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, Montana.

Actually, Heineken has the distinction of launching the first aluminum beer bottle in the world.  Big Sky Brewing was second, launching its Moose Drool ale about a week after Heineken.

Moose Drool?  Talk about risky branding.

Big Sky launched its aluminum bottle in 1999.  They didn’t want to use cans because of the popular perception that beers in cans were inferior.  So they took the plunge and used an aluminum bottle.

According to this interesting article in Massachusetts Beverage World, the decision to go with an aluminum bottle paid off.  “Pittsburgh Brewing followed Big Sky in less than a year, putting the iconic but sagging Iron City into an Aluminum Bottle. For this big, aging brewery, losing its big, aging customer base, aluminum bottles represented more than just something outdoorsy and different. They were a lifeline. “It revitalized the brand,” said Tony Ferraro, VP of sales and marketing at Pittsburgh. “That bottle is the best POS there is.”

Aluminum Bottle for Chardonnay

It seems I overlooked this aluminum bottle for Elk & Wolf Chardonnay.

The bottle design itself – which was  created by SocialUK – is certainly bold.

Aluminum Wine Bottle: Elk & Wolf

First of all, they decided on an aluminum color finish.  They didn’t decorate it with bright colors which one might associate more readily with wine.  I’ve posted about some of the designs for aluminum bottles used for fruit juices, mixed drinks, beer, chocolate milk, etc.  All of them used lots of color.

The minimalist, monochromatic design of the Elk & Wolk aluminum bottle is certainly different.  I don’t normally associate the silvery finish of aluminum with wine.   In fact, the Elk & Wolf bottle looks a lot like some of our standard, undecorated aluminum bottles.

At least, they used a wine bottle shape.

Aluminum Perfume Bottles – Keep ‘Em Cold

I came across another article that espouses keeping perfumes and other expensive scents in aluminum bottles and in the refrigerator.

Fragonard Aluminum Bottle Gold

This article from Healthmad.com suggests the following:

• keep the perfumes in their original boxes or
• store them in aluminum bottles and
• store the aluminum bottles in the refrigerator at between 37-45 degrees Fahrenheit
• use aluminum bottles of the same capacity as the original packaging so that there is little space between the liquid and the lid
• use a spray head to minimize contact with the outside air

Aluminum Spray Head

For the spray head, something like our white spray pump would do very well.  Just get one of our cosmetic aluminum bottles, transfer the perfume, attach the spray head, and then stick the bottle in the fridge.

It won’t look as pretty as a custom designed aluminum perfume bottle such as the gorgeous gold bottle we developed for Fragonard.

Then again, if you’re paying big bucks for your scents, you might as well make sure they last.  Using an aluminum bottle seems a very small price to pay.

Aluminum Recycling App for Iphone

Aluminum Recycling App for Iphone

Here’s  a really cool Iphone app.

Alcoa has developed an app called Aluminate, which allow the user to track the number of aluminum cans he/she recycles everyday.

The app has some really nifty features.  For example: you can use the excellent location capabilities of the Iphone to find the nearest recycling centers.  You can even find out how much they pay per pound of recycled aluminum.  BTW – the default payment is $0.50 per pound.

Of course, you can share your aluminum recycling progress via Facebook and Twitter.

This is one app that can be embraced by schools.  It would be a great tool for fundraising and raising environmental consciousness among students.

Now if they can arrange for payment to be made via the Iphone, this would really be an outstanding app.  I hope they have versions for Android devices as well.

Aluminum Bottles – Best for Perfumes – But Cold

I came across an interesting article in fashion-rules.com that mentioned aluminum bottles .

Molinard Eaux Naturelle Aluminum Bottle

According to this article, ” . . . preservation of perfumes is of vital significance as it degrades if kept carelessly. In the old times all perfumes used to come in open bottles with caps and these bottles kept the fragrance intact for about a year.

Now it is a well-known fact light-tight aluminum bottles are best for the preservation of perfumes, especially when they are refrigerated at low temperatures from 3 to 7 degree Celsius.”

3 degrees Celsius?  That’s 37.4 degrees Farenheit!  That’s just 5 degrees above freezing.

Considering the prices of some of these fragrances, and assuming the article is correct,  it behooves perfume users to store their favorite expensive scents not on their dressers but in the refrigerator .

I think I’ll transfer some of my favorite colognes into some empty aluminum bottles.

Aluminum Bottles for Kabul Aoud Perfume

I don’t immediately associate Afghanistan with perfumes or even aluminum bottles.

So I was intrigued to read about the launch of Kabul Aoud, a high-end perfume created by Montale Perfumes.  It is made with essential oils from cedar, guaiacwood and aoud, which is a resinous wood that is quite rare and a target of poachers.

The aluminum bottle is a beautiful black.  As we all know, aluminum is superior to glass in protecting against sunlight.

Searching on Amazon, I found some of Montale’s perfumes retailing at $210 for a 3.3 oz. bottle.  That’s almost $64 an ounce!

If you read my previous post on how to store perfumes to make them last, then you should probably stick this aluminum bottle in the refrigerator.

Aluminum Bottles for Coke in Israel

Aluminum Bottles Coke Israel

I’m always on the lookout for aluminum bottles on ebay.  Not because I’m a collector, but because I’m absolutely fascinated by the asking prices of these bottles, many of which are used.

Consider this batch of three bottles from Israel.  I am assuming they were sold in Israel.  I’ve certainly never seen them here in the USA.

The seller is asking for $19.99 for the three bottles plus about $9 for shipping.  So that’s almost $30 for three empty aluminum bottles or $10 each!  I could get a decent bottle of Chardonnay for that price.

They’re beautiful bottles and I am still quite puzzled that we don’t see  more of them in the USA.  I sometimes drop into liquor stores to see what new aluminum bottles they carry.   So far, I’ve only come across the usual Bud aluminum bottles, which I don’t particularly like, design-wise.