Tag Archives: bulk olive oil

More steps towards sustainability

At Great Southern Groves, we’ve always believed in creating not only exceptional Australian olive oil but also a better future for the environment. Over the last 2-3 years, we’ve taken meaningful steps towards becoming a more sustainable business, driven by both consumer demand and our own commitment to protect the planet we all share.

Why Sustainability Matters

Our industry, especially olive oil production, is severely impacted by climate change—high temperatures and low rainfall affect the quality and quantity of our olives. That’s why it’s essential for us to adopt sustainable farming practices and move towards more eco-friendly packaging.

What We’ve Done So Far

We’re excited to share the steps we’ve taken towards sustainability:

Bulk Packaging Change: We’ve replaced plastic cubes with eco-friendly bag-in-the-box packaging for our bulk olive oil. This shift has helped us eliminate a substantial amount of plastic from our business. Our new packaging is not only more sustainable but also practical—each box comes with its own tap, is easier to store on shelves, and can be conveniently posted or sent anywhere across Australia. Plus, it keeps the oil fresher for longer!

More Eco-Friendly Tins: We’ve replaced our 3L tins with laminated paper labels with pre-printed tins. This simple change has helped us eliminate thousands of meters of non-recyclable backing material that would have ended up in landfill.

Refill, Reuse, Repeat: We encourage our customers to refill bottles from our 15L boxes or 3L tins. To make this even more beautiful and functional, we sourced a modern amphora-style bottle made of high-quality glass. Paired with a sleek chrome pourer, these bottles are perfect for refilling and display on your kitchen bench.

The Art Series: We took our commitment to sustainability a step further by launching the Art Series bottle. This series features artworks by talented Australian artists. Just before Christmas, we released the second bottle in the series by Western Australian artist Emma Blyth. Fly High showcases the White-Cheeked Honeyeater landing on a Banksia.

Thank You for Your Support

We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of our wonderful customers who have embraced our sustainable and recyclable packaging. Your support helps us move forward in our journey to make olive oil that not only tastes great but also contributes to a healthier planet.

We remain committed to reducing our environmental impact and appreciate your continued support in helping us reach our sustainability goals. While these steps may seem small, we truly believe that, together, we can make a lasting difference.

Are you storing your olive oil correctly?

Did you know that Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a fruit juice! As olives grow on trees, they are classified as a fruit. So technically the liquid you squeeze out of them is a juice.

Unlike other fruit juices, olive oil is shelf stable and doesn’t need to be kept in the fridge. However, like most fruit juices, it doesn’t improve with age. The Best Before date on our Extra Virgin Olive Oil is 2 years from harvest date, the closer you consume it to pressing, the healthier it is for you.

Oxygen, heat and light are the three main enemies of olive oil. So, to combat these…

Keep the lid on tight.

Keep it away from any sources of heat.

Keep it in the dark.

What about keeping a bottle on the kitchen bench? Two things to consider are the type of bottle and where you keep it. 

A thick, dark glass or ceramic, 500ml bottle or smaller is perfect for keeping your oil fresh.  Our decorative bottles are designed for this purpose. We chose them as they have particularly thick and dark glass, serving as a protection for the olive oil. If you are keeping the bottle on your kitchen bench, the location is also important.  Near the stove is handy however, the heat can cause your olive oil to deteriorate quickly both in flavour and nutritional value.  You can certainly store the bottle stove-side, just be aware of the length of time it takes you to empty the bottle. If you use only a small amount over a week, then consider only filling the bottle each week to the amount you use. Also remember to wash out your bottle each time you purchase a new 3L tin or every two to three months.

Buying olive oil in bulk like the 3L tin and 15L box? Decant the oil into your gorgeous bottle on the kitchen bench and then pop the bulk container back into the cupboard, in the dark. Please make sure the lid is replaced tightly back on your tin.  Ideally you want to use the olive oil in your 3L tin within 6 months of opening. As for our new 15L Bag in Box… these are perfect for storing large quantities of olive oil for longer periods of time as they eliminate light and oxygen exposure.

Sustainability in the kitchen

Over the past few years we have been investing in making our business more sustainable. One of the biggest challenges is packaging. There are now so many more options available but not all were an easy swap or the packaging didn’t quite fit our needs.

We are super excited that in 2023, one step we will be taking to become more sustainable is changing over 20L plastic drums to 15L Bag in the Box. We supply our hospitality customers with this bulk olive oil size, but increasingly, customers are purchasing for home use too.

Although we would often repurpose our 20L drums, unfortunately we couldn’t reuse them. These drums are not always recycled either. We then set about finding a filling and capping machine to change over to the Bag in the Box packaging that many people would know as a “good bag” for wine. This change will see our bulk oil reduce to a 15L but will mean they are easier for transport and shipping to our non hospitality customers. The cardboard outer is completely recyclable. The inner bladder has a tap that is recyclable and while the actual bag is not recyclable yet, they definitely mean less landfill.

Some other added environmental benefits is less fuel/ transport of packaging down to our grove. The 20L drums would fill large pallets and we would need to send 3-4 pallets at regular intervals. The new Bag in the Box packaging is all flat packed meaning over a years worth of packaging can be sent in just a few pallets.

There are also some added benefits for your olive oil too. The Bag in the Box packaging means less light and oxygen will get into your olive oil. Keeping your delicious olive oil fresher for longer. We hope that more and more home customers will now opt to purchase a 3L tin or 15L Bag in the Box for home. Buying in bulk not only means you save $$ on your oil, you save on trips to the shop and save multiple bottles from landfill by refilling a bottle. Saving our amazing planet can seem very overwhelming for an individual but small changes such as this, makes a big difference.