Hi Folks,

Yep, you’re right – you have not yet seen the returnable stainless cups at River Valley Coop yet. It's not for lack of trying, we promise! But it is time for an update on our returnable packaging adventure! So here we go...

We have lovely stainless cups, foils, and labels, all eagerly waiting here at Sidehill, ready to roll. James (the project engineer) also found a durable, washable silicone lid for use in your fridge, to cover the cups once you open them. This part is all good.

Here’s the sticky spot... (or not sticky enough spot, maybe) Back in the spring and summer of 2024, our trial seals between foils and cups were giving us a seal that was maybe 85% good enough for the real world, and this led us to believe we would get to 100% and be ready for a launch in the fall. Well, once we went and told you all that, we hit a plateau. 85% is not good enough. That means 15% of the time, the yogurt container that tips over in your grocery bag is going to leak all over the back of your car. Not cool!

Now James is a creative fellow and came up with many, MANY modifications to the sealing system, each of which seemed as if it had potential get us to the finish line. And yet we remained at 85%. So we decided to go to the pros.

In early November, James headed to Pack Expo in Chicago - a gigantic trade show of packaging machinery and expertise stacked 5 stories high! This trip to the big time of the food packaging world confirmed what we already knew - this project is way out ahead of the curve, and we are forging a new path! Fortunately, he also found some people with related experience who got excited about our idea, and took a real interest. We learned that we need two things to make the seal 100% - a food-grade coating on the rim of the stainless cup, and a flexible but heat-transferring surface material for the seal head in the filling machine.

The coating we need is the same as the one that is used on single-serving yogurt in glass or ceramic containers, so if you've ever opened one of those, you've experienced it. The coating allows the foil seal to bond to a non-porous surface. Thanks to James and his foray to Pack Expo, we are currently working with several companies to come up with the correct treatment and process for the sealing surface on our stainless cups.

The flexible seal head is on order, and should be arriving shortly. So with the holidays behind us we plan to be back in R&D mode soon. This time around we are not going to guess at a date! But please be aware that we are continuing to work at this, and we will not release anything into stores until we are sure that your experience will be as good or better than the plastic containers. We are convinced that returnables have a bright future, and getting the job done right, is much more important than getting there as quickly as possible.

Thanks for all your enthusiasm, patience, and support! Your faith in us is the engine that keeps us going everyday. Happy New Year everyone!