FRANCE – Sidel, a provider of equipment and services for packaging liquids, has introduced a new PET bottle designed to enhance the competitive advantage for liquid dairy manufacturers.
The PET bottle targets the global dairy market, valued at US$653.7 billion in 2022 and projected to grow at a 17% CAGR by 2027.
This mini-sized packaging, designed for drinking and probiotic yoghurts, features capacities between 65ml to 150ml, ideal for ambient and cold chain processes. The bottle is also suitable for applications in the juice, nectar, soft drinks, isotonic, and tea sectors.
Laurent Naveau, Packaging Innovator Leader at Sidel, stated, “This new format has been launched to support the liquid dairy product industry, where the use of PET packaging has increasingly become an attractive alternative.”
The bottle, part of Sidel’s continuous packaging optimization program, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and costs while providing marketing opportunities and high production performance for manufacturers.
Sidel’s ultra-light PET bottle enhances sustainability with PET being the most affordable plastic on the market and the only food-grade bottle-to-bottle recycled plastic.
Manufacturers can achieve up to a 40% cost reduction when transitioning from polystyrene to PET and a 20% reduction from high-density polyethylene (HDPE).
With a weight of just 3.9g for a 100ml extended shelf-life bottle and 5.4g for a 100ml aseptic bottle, the new preform design is qualified for 100% rPET content and enables low blowing pressure below 15 bars.
The PET mini-bottle ensures total product integrity and compatibility with various capping solutions. Sidel offers a complete line solution for liquid dairy and sensitive products, leveraging over 40 years of industry experience.
The new bottle size is compatible with the company’s Aseptic Combi Predis™ FMa, providing a safe, hygienic, and cost-effective way to package sensitive products at high production speeds of up to 66,000 bottles per hour.
Meanwhile, last month, Sidel developed a dedicated PET bottle for carbonated beverages designed for long-standing reuse in response to impending European regulations.
In accordance with the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, the focus is on creating a circular economy where reusable bottles are prioritized.
With a goal of achieving 25 percent reusable bottles by 2040, there is a growing demand for returnable packaging and refillable production lines instead of the traditional food-grade bottle-to-bottle recycling process.
For packaging manufacturers looking to introduce returnable bottles, PET is the material of choice. Using PET helps to reach lighter bottle weights and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
