Amber glass jars and bottles are quite common, and you’ve probably used them at least a few times in your life. After all, amber is one of the more common glass container colors out there. You’ll find beer bottles, medicine bottles, essential oil bottles, jars, and many others in amber glass. Does this mean, therefore, that amber glass jars are the best choice for your own business?

Not necessarily. While it’s true that amber is the glass color of choice for many industries, it doesn’t mean that it’s the right fit for you. After all, amber glass may not function in the way that your products might need it to function. Despite its color, it still has some translucency and will therefore still allow some visible light through. Thus, amber glass jars are probably not the best for products that are light-sensitive or have other requirements involving the amount of light they’re exposed to.

Luckily, there is an alternative: ultraviolet glass jars and bottles that can provide better protection for a wide variety of products.

Types of Colored Glass

Glass can come in many colors. You’ve probably seen glass beads, sculptures, bowls, vases, ornaments, and other objects in various colors and hues. However, the color of glass, as well as how the glass itself was colored, doesn’t just serve a decorative purpose.

Not all colored glass containers are the same, of course. Some colored glass jars or bottles are actually clear glass containers that have been painted over. However, actually incorporating the color into the glass itself isn’t as simple as just painting over clear glass. Amber glass, for example, gets its color from the addition of carbon, iron, and sulfur. Cobalt blue glass gets its color from the addition of cobalt oxide. Green glass gets it color from non-toxic chrome oxide, and red glass gets its color from selenium oxide, copper, or gold chloride.

Typically, the higher the amount of the added coloring, the darker and more solid the glass’s coloring will be. The concentration of color, as well as the colors themselves, can affect the amount and kinds of light that can penetrate through the glass.

Why Not Clear Glass?

Glass containers are used as packaging for a wide variety of products, ranging from food and beverages to cosmetics and medicines. A wide range of glass colors are used in glass products: clear, amber, green, blue, and the deep violet of ultraviolet glass. Each glass color filters light differently, which is why each color is suitable for certain applications and for storing specific products.

Clear glass, for example, is quite ubiquitous. You’ll find many glass containers made of clear glass, from beverage bottles to canning jars, perfume bottles to lip tint tubes, fragrance oil bottles, and more. However, clear glass is of course completely transparent and lets all visible light and ultraviolet light rays in.

The problem with this is that clear glass won’t be able to offer much protection for light-sensitive products or other products that are prone to spoilage or degradation. Spoilage and degradation happen when certain types of microbes proliferate in a biodegradable product. This will happen eventually, but there are ways to delay the proliferation of these microbes. However, clear glass won’t be able to help in this regard. This is because certain types of visible light rays can actually encourage the proliferation of harmful microbes.

Light can also cause oxidation in certain types of biodegradable products. Oxidation, which is a type of chemical reaction, can alter the way something tastes, looks, feels, and smells. It can also affect nutritional value in food.

Thus, clear glass jars and bottles aren’t always the best type of packaging. However, are amber glass containers the answer?

Amber Glass Jars vs Other Types of Glass Jars

Amber glass bottles and jars have a solid reputation in many industries, and it’s not really undeserved. After all, amber glass can certainly offer more protection compared to clear glass. It can protect against light damage, and it can also block UV light rays that can negatively impact the quality of a certain product. Additionally, amber glass specifically blocks blue light. Even though blue light has its benefits, it’s still best to filter out as much visible light as possible in order to prevent light damage.

Green and cobalt blue colored glass are also less effective than amber glass. Green glass in particular isn’t as widely used, and for good reason. It can’t block as much light as amber glass, though green glass can be used to store products like beer. Cobalt glass, meanwhile, has had a long history of use, and can be made into decorative and ornamental pieces as well as bottles for sherry and mineral water.

Compared to green and cobalt glass bottles, however, amber glass bottles seem to be more common, especially when it comes to consumer products. Amber glass jars with metal lids, for example, can store cosmetics, food, ointments, medicines, and more. Thus, many businesses in a wide variety of industries buy amber glass jars wholesale in large part because amber glass has become an industry standard.

Various businesses have gotten used to buying amber glass jars wholesale to package and store various products. However, it may be worth it to consider a different type of glass packaging. 

Are Amber Glass Jars Right for Your Business?

Packaging is an important part of a retail business. After all, the packaging is what protects the product itself and keeps it away from damage. Certain products won’t rely much on their packaging, while others need carefully-selected packaging that will provide enough protection.

If you’re considering using amber bottles and jars for your business, it’s likely that you’re selling a product that needs some protection against light. However, amber glass might end up falling somewhat short of meeting your business’s packaging needs. Many websites and manufacturers will tell you that amber glass offers the most protection against light rays, but you may find that ultraviolet glass can actually end up performing better than other types of glass.

Glass containers can definitely contribute to the preservation of your products. It’s therefore important to make sure that you choose the right glass packaging for your business.

Amber Glass vs Ultraviolet Glass

Even though amber glass has a solid reputation in many industries, it may be worth taking a second look at it to determine if it’s the best option for your business. This is especially important if you want to make sure that you’ll be able to prolong the shelf life of your products, as well as provide better protection against oxidation and light damage.

Ultraviolet glass works in much the same way as amber glass. Compared to amber glass jars and bottles, however, ultraviolet glass containers offer more protection against harmful light rays that cause oxidation as well as spoilage and degradation.

Infinity Jars offers ultraviolet glass jars and bottles that are designed primarily to extend the shelf life of various biodegradable products and materials. However, that’s not all that UV glass can do. While amber glass blocks and absorbs all UV light rays, UV glass can let UV-A and infrared light rays through. These light rays can actually help keep products fresh for longer and can even inhibit the growth of microbes.

Furthermore, amber glass jars and bottles still let some visible light rays through, thus giving microbes some leeway to proliferate. Amber glass can be somewhat translucent, allowing you to see what’s inside. You’ll be able to see how much product you have left, but this also means that some visible light can make its way through the glass and into the inside of the container.

UV glass jars and bottles, however, are near-opaque even appear black (the actual color is violet). You won’t be able to easily see the product inside the container through the glass, but this also means that little to no visible light rays are penetrating through.

Lab-Testing UV Glass

You may be thinking: how do ultraviolet glass containers and amber glass containers perform when storing the same items? 

Infinity Jars has actually conducted a UV glass versus amber glass lab test. This test utilized chives, which are one of the most easily perishable herbs commonly used in kitchens today. These chives were stored in an amber glass jar, with equal amounts stored in a UV glass jar and clear glass jar as well.

After two months, the chives in the clear glass jar were found to have completely browned and spoiled. The chives in the amber glass jar, meanwhile, retained some of their color but were also already showing visible signs of degradation. However, the chives in the UV glass jar were found to still be relatively fresh and in better condition.

Tests and experiments like this can attest to the benefits of UV glass containers. If your business is centered on selling products that can be negatively impacted by the growth of microbes, UV glass can put your mind at ease.

Protecting and Preserving Contents

UV glass also doesn’t just resist harmful light rays. Infinity Jars has also made sure that its jars and bottles are made of thick, durable, and high-quality glass. These containers definitely won’t break that easily, so you won’t have to worry too much about deliveries. They’ll be able to come out of a rough ride completely intact, with nary a chip or a crack.

Additionally, these UV glass containers come with lids that are guaranteed to be airtight and smell-proof. The lids are made of BPA-free plastic, but Infinity Jars also has a line of jars with aluminum lids. If you’ve been thinking of using amber glass jars with metal lids, Infinity Jars can definitely provide a better alternative.

Lids are an important aspect of bottles and jars, especially those meant to preserve products. An airtight lid can prevent contaminants from getting into the container, and it can also prevent leaks to ensure that your product stays where it needs to be. If a product is well-protected within its container, it has a better chance of having a longer shelf-life.

There are many businesses from which you can buy amber glass jars wholesale for your business. However, Infinity Jars also offers UV glass jars and bottles are also available wholesale. Furthermore, Infinity Jars pays attention to the production of these UV glass containers, which are also closely inspected and packed by hand. Many businesses that sell amber glass bottles and jars probably keep a close eye on their products as well, but Infinity Jars is invested in every step of the creation of its products.

Buying UV Glass Jars Wholesale

Amber glass jars with metal lids have been around for some time, and they’ve certainly built a reputation for being generally reliable. However, UV glass jars and bottles are a viable improvement on, as well as an alternative to, other types of glass containers.

However, it’s important to note that certain products, like beer and kombucha, may actually be better off in amber packaging. This is because these products rely on a certain level of microbial activity, which UV glass containers will suppress. Of course, for other products that will benefit from very minimal light exposure as well as the suppression of microbial activity, UV glass jars and bottles are the better choice.

One example of products that will likely be better off in UV glass bottles is essential oils. Essential oils are prone to oxidation, which can be caused by exposure to air, heat, and light. If you’re building an essential oil business, or one that involves the use of essential oils, UV glass essential oil bottles are a better choice than amber glass bottles. They provide better protection from light, and are designed to have airtight lids. Just make sure to keep the bottles away from heat sources.

You’ll find that there are various products that will do very well when stored in UV glass containers. Amber glass jars and bottles certainly have their uses, and are more suitable for certain products. However, UV glass containers offer more protection against the factors that contribute to spoilage and degradation. Thus, buying UV glass jars wholesale is definitely the better choice.

References

1. https://www.dermascope.com/blogs/ultravioletglassbottles

2. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-New-Proof-of-Concept-in-Bacterial-Reduction%3A-of-Maclean-Anderson/60adb786de409c24159f450ff9904faa9abfdfa4

3. https://www.containerandpackaging.com/resources/colored-glass/

4. https://www.airseacontainers.com/blog/the-science-behind-amber-glass-how-these-bottles-protect-liquids/

5. https://geology.com/articles/color-in-glass.shtml

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for collodion work, I keep my silver nitrate bath in a clear plastic container for safety. I pour my silver bath into this container and filter it when I do every time I use my wet plate set up. Every two weeks, the bath gets 'sunned' to make sure any contaminates precipitate out to the bottom, and any ether/alcohol components can evaporate off. After this, the silver bath is filtered again, prior to going back into the actual sensitizing tank. For collodion work this silver nitrate/ distilled water solution will not change color in clear containers. It's when the salted collodion coated plate is immersed into the silver bath that the silver/collodion emulsion becomes light sensitive. For obvious reasons, the sensitizing tank needs to be light proof. There are many that think storing in plastic makes sense safety wise incase the bath is dropped, but others store their silver baths in glass... YMMV.