Does the color of glass packaging matter?

Lotions, drinking water, candies or sauces – glass packaging suits for pretty every liquid or edible stuff. Glass is inert and keeps the content totally safe from chemical affect other packaging material might cause, preserving its initial taste, flavor and the body.

It only takes a glance to see through clear glass whether the product is fresh and in sound condition, while the packaging itself never stains, leaks, or spoils. The structure of glass makes it pressure, vacuum, and temperature proof; esides, glass is one material that can be recycled nearly infinitely at no quality loss. End even if glass waste gets into landfill, it deals least possible damage to the environment.

Color is another important feature to consider. Glass containers of different tint obtained through chemical additives, provide different level of protection against certain segments of solar radiation spectrum.

Amber (brown) glass

The most common color of glass containers applied for cosmetic and pharma products. The glass obtains its amber tint thanks to sulfur, iron, and carbon additives, which provide optimum protection for light-sensitive formulas like beverages, certain groups of drugs, and cosmetics. Amber glass blocks the entire UV radiation keeping the product totally safe from its harmful action.

Another strong advantage of amber glass lies in its marketing effect. Brown jars and bottles have been in wide use since the XIXth century, specially in the pharmacy industry, so now people are subconsciously assuming whatever is inside as something proven, effective and in most cases natural. Should a person be offered the same product in a, let’s say, plastic and glass container, most people would rather trust the one in glass.

Cobalt (blue) glass

The blue tint comes from adding cobalt or sometimes copper oxide. Blue glass performs similar to amber light barrier absorbing UV yet letting blue spectrum through. Anyways, blue glass offers enough protection for products with low or moderate light-sensitivity. That’s why it’s also been and remains a widely used packaging material for drugs and cosmetics.

Black glass

Black glass offers all the same barrier as amber, additionally blocking the visible part of the spectrum, only letting IR through. The UV barrier allows to keep cosmetics, cosmeceutics, food or drugs fresh and sound for much longer time compared to no-light barrier materials, at the same time reducing the amount of preservatives to minimum.

Green glass

Unlike other “barrier” colors, the green one, obtained by adding chromium oxide, is just decorative. Just like clear, green glass doesn’t offer any relevant solar barrier. Nonetheless, it retains all the other qualities glass is valued for, hat’s why it’s so popular among, for instance, producers of wine or other beverages and certain cosmetics, that are not especially light-sensitive.

Violet glass

Violet glass is a particular story. It was initially invented with an accent on protection against the visible light spectrum, and is deliberately designed to let through a part of UVA (25-45%) and IR (around 60%) to maintain the best solar saturation for organic food and cosmetic products.

his unique combination is meant to provide the best possible protection against organic product “sun aging” and let naturally extend its shelf lifespan. You can see our glass bottle range here –CATALOG OF GLASS BOTTLES.

Decorative colored glass

Adding color to glass container doesn’t necessarily require adding oxides to bulk glass – it can also be a coverage. The one we most often see now is the “frosted” glass effect. Another one is greenery tint several brands is using to present the trendy CBD based cosmetics. The best part of this decoration method is that all the colorant is applied on the surface, so the inner walls retain the initial glass inertness and remain completely safe for the product’s chemical formula. Besides, the color coverage may as well offer any kind of light protection, same as chemically dyed glass does.