Super-Lightweight PET Bottles

Among a host of news at the recent Drinktec show in Germany was a half-liter PET bottle for still water, weighing only 7.5 g, 31.5% less than typical bottles on the market, though it can withstand nitrogen filling. This EvoLight bottle was developed by P.E.T. Engineering of San Vendemiano, Italy, a specialist in design and development of PET containers.

P.E.T. Engineering had support from Husky Injection Molding Systems, Bolton, Ont., and used Husky’s new 26/22 neck finish with a weight of 1.91 g, plus P.E.T. Engineering’s own Swerve Neck and Sunbase designs. It also used X_Treme PET resin from Novapet of Zaragoza, Spain, to achieve the right balance of lightweighting and visual appearance.
The EvoLight design is also used in a 1.5L format, weighing only 18.9 g for still water and 22.5 g for sparkling. Both can use the Husky 26/22 neck finish.

On the other end of the size scale from the EvoLight 0.5L is the Powerblock 3.0, said to be the industry’s lightest 64-oz, hot-fill PET bottle. It was introduced in February by Amcor Rigid Plastics. It weighs 59 g, 13.2% less than the typical 68 g bottle of this size. It has a 38-mm finish, much lighter than the standard 43-mm finish for 64-oz PET bottles.