Eby Manor Ltd.
1174 Weeby Place
Waterloo, ON N2J 4G8
November 1st, 2025
RE: Discontinuation of glass milk bottles, introduction to new packaging
Dear Valued Customer,
In May 2012, Eby Manor Ltd. launched its first retail dairy product batched in reusable glass bottles. These bottles were designed as a revival of a classic packaging style suited to our premium A2 Guernsey milk. Our line of fluid dairy products has since expanded from 2% and 4.8% non-homogenized milk to include 4% chocolate milk and 10% cream. As the popularity of our products has grown and our distribution to stores in Southwestern Ontario has increased, our inventory of glass bottles has continued to keep pace through both the return of used bottles by our regular customers and, increasingly, the manufacturing of new glass bottles.
In late summer of this year, Hewitt’s Dairy Ltd., our long-time copacker who bottles Eby Manor products, informed us that they will be discontinuing any glass bottle processing and will be transitioning entirely to single-use plastic bottles and containers. Hewitt’s Dairy has cited several reasons for this change, including the substantial inputs of fresh water and chemicals involved in glass washing and sterilization; the significant labour involved in the sorting, inspecting, and handling of used glass bottles; ongoing risks of contamination and breakages during production; and the significant costs of reinvestment required to update their current bottle washing equipment.
For our part at Eby Manor, this announcement came as momentous news. Glass bottles have been an important aspect of our brand since its inception. We understand that many of our customers were attracted to our product line in part because of its premium packaging design and have become accustomed to our bottle return program. And we are very grateful both to consumers who regularly enjoy our products and make bottle returns, and to our retailers who have chosen to offer our products on their store shelves while accepting bottle returns to their shops.
However, with the growth of our milk processing volume and expansion of product offerings over time, Hewitt’s Dairy remains our trusted co-packing partner capable of both the scale and high standards that we require and at which they continue to operate. We are therefore developing new litre and 500ml designs for plastic milk bottles, which will be composed of a food-safe plastic that is also fully recyclable, just like our yogurt containers. They will be shaped like our glass bottles, transparent, and maintain an attractive design that is easily identifiable as an Eby Manor milk product. We are pleased to announce that we will also be offering 2% and 4.8% non-homogenized milk in 4-litre plastic jugs, a common request from many families that purchase Eby Manor milk. Note that these 4-litre jugs will only be available at our farm store and in retail stores in Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding region to which we make deliveries. Stores outside our delivery area will be able to carry our 4-litre jugs sometime in the new year.
There will of course be no bottle deposit charge on our plastic milk bottles as they will be fully recyclable, making our products more accessible to consumers and easier for retail stores to manage. Another benefit of this change is that we will be better positioned to ensure the availability of bottles for processing our milk. As the cost and lead times for the manufacturing of glass bottles has continued to rise, increasingly we find that thousands of bottles in our distribution do not complete their life-cycle and are not returned to us for processing. We have, for instance, recently endured a shortfall of 500ml glass bottles, which led to the temporary suspension of our 500ml chocolate milk. A further subset of used bottles must also be destroyed that are returned too dirty to clean, suffer any chipping or cracking, or become too faded.
Again, we are disheartened to have to discontinue our beloved glass bottles. However, this necessary change will enable us to continue to provide the highest quality A2 Guernsey milk products in new packaging with a familiar design that is both durable and fully recyclable. This changeover has been scheduled to commence on Monday, November 24th,, though this may be subject to delay. In an effort to create a reasonable window of time for you to return any glass bottles to us and receive back your $2 deposits, please be advised that we will continue to honour deposits on Eby Manor glass bottles until February 28th, 2026. You are of course welcome to keep any glass bottles if you prefer – they’re still stylish and useful!
More information about this change and answers to common questions can be found on our website at www.ebymanor.ca. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please direct your inquiries to our production team via email at info@ebymanor.ca. Finally, thank you so much for your ongoing support! We at Eby Manor look forward to continuing to bring you and your family the very best in dairy – new bottles, same great A2 Guernsey milk.
Sincerely,
James Eby
President - Eby Manor Ltd.
