FAQ: Packaging of our Olive Snack

Appreciation for people and nature has been the foundation of our family business and our economic activities for over 40 years. Throughout the entire company, we continuously review our processes with regard to sustainability and environmental protection.

Our olives are natural products, grown organically using traditional methods and largely harvested by hand. Further processing is carried out using solar power and with minimal water consumption. Thanks to the photovoltaic system on the roof of our production facility in Pyrgos, our olives and olive oil can be processed in an energy-neutral way. Our administration also covers its electricity needs from the sun. Each year, the installation converts sunlight into approx. 100,000 kWh, saving an estimated 90 tons of CO₂.

Of course, the sustainability of our packaging is also an important topic for us. Our olives are already available for retail in returnable jars, and since summer 2025 we have been offering the first MANI olive oil in a returnable glass bottle. For our online shipments, we avoid plastic and limit the use of packaging materials as much as possible to what is absolutely necessary.

For our Olive Snack, we carefully considered what the best packaging solution for this product would be, as it has different requirements than our existing products. After weighing various arguments, we decided on a plastic solution. Why? We answer that here:

1. Why do you use plastic at all?

We are not fundamentally against plastic – because sustainable packaging needs a differentiated approach. We will offer our olive oil in returnable glass in the future because, in this case, reusable glass is the better solution.

However, for smaller formats, the situation is different: plastic can be an ecologically sensible decision – when used thoughtfully.

2. Why did you choose plastic for this product?

The Olive Snack is a special format for tasting and for on the go. Especially with such small portion sizes, glass – due to its weight, energy consumption, and risk of breakage – would not be the more sustainable solution.

Alternative materials such as paper or bioplastics currently do not yet meet these requirements in a satisfactory way.

Plastic has so far proven to be particularly practical and safe because it:

• reliably protects the product
• is lightweight and shatterproof
• requires significantly less energy than glass for small filling quantities
• offers good handling when you are on the go

3. Is the pouch recyclable?

Our olives contain oil, salt, acidity, and moisture – this is a real challenge for any type of packaging. Therefore, the packaging needs to have special properties. The pouch is made of a multi-layer plastic, similar to our bag-in-box, and is currently not recyclable.

We are working with an experienced producer in Greece and are closely monitoring technological developments. As soon as it becomes possible, we will offer the Olive Snack in recyclable packaging.