With PET: enjoying wine has never been so lightweight
Plastic bottles are best known for mineral water and juices because they are light and practical. The world's leading packaging specialist Alpla is now bringing this advantage to the supermarket shelves - for wine. The new 0.75-liter PET bottle weighs just 50 grams and looks like a traditional glass wine bottle. But it's not just the light weight and elegant appearance that make the PET bottle so interesting. It doesn't break, saves CO2 and can be completely recycled.
Until now, plastic bottles of this kind have rarely been found in everyday life, except for “the small PET wine bottles on airplanes to save weight,” says Daniel Lehner, Global Sales Director Food & Beverage at Alpla. It is properties like these that the packaging manufacturer is now making accessible to a broad market with the PET wine bottle - in a classically elegant look.
No volcano required and 45 Eifel towers lighter
The innovative plastic bottle makes a huge difference: the PET version weighs just a tenth of the 500-gram glass wine bottle. If it is used, the packaging weight is reduced by 90 percent. With around one billion wine bottles produced in Germany every year[1], this means that, in purely mathematical terms, there would be around 450,000 tons less on the scales, i.e. around 11,250 fully loaded trucks[2] or around 45 Eiffel Towers[3]. The lower weight brings immense savings in transportation and storage. In addition, the bottle does not break.
Furthermore, glass requires a temperature of around 1,600 degrees Celsius during production - more heat than in a volcano, including high energy consumption and emissions. PET bottles, on the other hand, can be shaped at around 260 degrees Celsius, which reduces the amount of heat required and the release of greenhouse gases.
Only half the CO2 and easy handling
The PET bottle scores particularly well in terms of sustainability, says Daniel Lehner from Alpla: “The bottle is fully recyclable and can be produced with up to 100 percent recycled material (rPET).” He calculates what this means: “Depending on the amount of recycled material used, the CO2 savings can be up to 50 percent.” He adds: “Even without using recyclate, the PET bottle already reduces CO2 by 38% compared to the glass bottle.” This significantly improves the carbon footprint.
In addition to its traditional look, the PET bottle has a metal cap, as is familiar from glass bottles. The new plastic bottle is particularly interesting for ecologically-minded buyers and consumers who want to consume the wine immediately after purchase. In retail, the plastic bottle is particularly suitable for quick turnover. The reason being the full aroma of the wine is guaranteed to be retained for around six months, after which there may be slight degradation effects due to oxygen migration. Packaging manufacturer Alpla has deliberately dispensed with the use of a barrier layer due to the ecological added value of the bottle's complete recyclability.
The PET wine bottle offers a modern enjoyment experience, in line with both sustainable and urban-mobile lifestyles. In addition, the lightweight and shatterproof beverage packaging makes it possible to enjoy wine in places where glass bottles are impractical or prohibited for weight or safety reasons, such as on the beach or at events.
[1] destatis.de
[2] Reference size: 40-ton truck
[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffelturm
Image Source: ALPLA
Image Caption: The new 0.75-liter PET bottle from Alpla weighs just 50 grams - and has the look of a classic glass wine bottle.
