More and more alcoholic beverages have been introduced to the market using a wide variety of ingredients and targeted at a wide range of consumer tastes, lifestyles and drinking occasions.
The variety of the drinks has been matched by the variety of the containers in which they are sold.
PET bottles have been in the forefront of this growing market not just because of the design flexibility that the material offers but also because it has better safety characteristics and lighter weight than glass and because it has a smaller environmental impact than either glass or aluminium. (Note – Links to later sections of this page).
At the same time, PET offers good shelf life and appeall for alcoholic beverages.
Safety
Many sporting and entertainment events now permit drinks to be served only in PET bottles or plastic cups because of health and safety concerns about other packaging formats. PET bottles are preferred by retailers at these venues because it avoids the process of having to pour drinks into plastic cups, making service faster and giving consumers something that is easier to carry.
PET bottles are virtually impossible to break and, even when crushed, they have no sharp edges.
For producers, bottlers, shippers and retailers (as well as for end users) the integrity of PET bottles means no losses from breakage.
PET has additional health and safety benefits. There is no risk, for example, of production failures leading to sharp edges on containers or sharp fragments contaminating the brand owner’s products.
Weight
A typical PET beverage bottle has a weight which is only a fraction of the weight of its glass equivalent. This means that the environmental and financial transport costs for beverages packed in PET can be substantially lower than for beverages in glass bottles
Petainer has been involved in several projects aimed at ‘lightweighting’ bottles to maximise the weight benefits of the PET packaging format – and also providing economic and environmental benefits through reduced materials use.
Environmental impact
Studies have shown that producing PET containers results in less greenhouse gas emissions and uses less energy than glass.
Shelf life
The shelf life of a beverage depends on how long it keeps its flavour. For many alcoholic beverages this is determined by exposure to oxygen and by loss of carbonation.
The shelf life is determined not only by the material of the container and closure (gas permeation through the bottle closure can be significant for small bottle sizes) but also by the way the bottle is designed and manufactured.
Recent developments in PET have greatly increased the shelf life that it can offer because of significant improvements in barrier materials and technologies. These are aimed at keeping oxygen out of the bottle and retaining CO2.
We are also working with PEN (PolyEthylene Naphthalate), a polyester which provides an even better oxygen barrier than PET and is therefore particularly well-suited for bottling beverages that are susceptible to oxidation.
Shelf appeal
PET bottles can be produced in a wide range of shapes and sizes. They can also be produced in a range of colours and opacities – or the material can be left in its natural highly transparent state where its startling clarity allows the product in the container to be displayed to the consumer. The possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the designer.
This permits bottles to be created which boost sales through their ‘shelf appeal’, grabbing the attention of shoppers.
Petainer has considerable expertise not just in the technology of PET bottle manufacture but also in understanding consumers. We undertake international market research to investigate the relationship between brands, products, packaging and purchasing. This expertise is available to our customers through our extensive consultancy services.
We are able to undertake fully-informed ‘packaging audits’ for brand owners, identifying opportunities to introduce new packaging concepts. We have helped major brands introduce PET packaging in order to obtain functional, cost and sales benefits. Combining our expertise in ‘design for manufacture’ and ‘design for market’ produces sustainable, cost-effective packaging with real shelf appeal.
At Petainer we have a passion for innovation and for taking new ideas from concept through to production.
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