Fully recyclable, ultra-thin PET hot-fill bottles used for packaging vitamin-enhanced waters

22-Apr-09

Graham Packaging, a leading US supplier of plastic containers for hot-fill applications, has teamed up with TalkingRain Beverage Company (Washington, US) to advance sustainability in PET hot-fill bottles. TalkingRain will switch over to 20-ounce PET stock hot-fill bottle, G-LiteTM from Graham Packaging for packaging its new vitamin-enhanced flavored waters. According to company indications, the G-Lite bottle reduces the plastic resin used in the bottle equates thus cuts cost by nearly 5%. Also, use of this new lightweight fully-recyclable bottle equates to 250 pounds less per truckload in weight savings. Till now, plastic bottles used in hot-filling had to have a substantial amount of material in their base to stand up to the rigors of the process. Graham Packaging has spent two years coming up with a new solution. The bottle uses a proprietary technique called Highly Oriented Base (HOB) which creates increased crystallinity in the plastic at the molecular level which leads to ultra-thinning of the plastic thereby slashing weight. The company thinks the new product will have immense demand as it employs less material, less energy to make, and less energy to transport and can be customized to different sizes and shapes.