Innovative reusable PET bottle for drinking water

ALPLA has additionally developed a 1-liter reusable PET bottle collectively with KHS. 

KHS, a professional for bottling and packaging systems lines. The innovative bottle weighs estimated up to ten grams less than the standard bottles. 

The life cycle assessment (LCA) of packaging varieties in Austria, which presented in April 2019, addressed some informational findings. 

Roland Fehringer’s independent consultancy company c7-consult took a close look at the environmental impacts of packaging types made of plastic, glass, metal, and carton for various product groups. 

For packed drinking water, for example, the life cycle assessment (LCA) observed single-use plastic and reusable bottles made of PET. The data represents that weight, the ratio of packaging weight to the contents, cargo ways, and the proportion of recycled materials used have a significance on the environmental impacts.

Innovative reusable PET bottle for drinking water 

In the class of packed drinking water, the logical winner of the investigation was the reusable PET bottle entirely made of recycled materials. 

On the one hand, the data for other EU nations explained very similar outcomes and conferred weight to this project. But on the other hand, innovative explanations for reusable drinking plastic bottles were in a low number due to a declining reusables quota in German-speaking countries. It was, consequently, evident that there was room for advancement here. And ALPLA needed to provide this potential together with its innovative partner KHS. This company has more than 20 years of expertise in the domain of preform and bottle design for reusable PET solutions.

Exclusive partnership with many advantages

ALPLA had now completed sampling for a new reusable solution made of PET at the beginning of this year. In other words, eight months after the study was presented. An optimized, reusable bottle was then formed in close assistance with the global KHS Group. ALPLA makes the preforms, which are later stretched, blown, and finally filled on the KHS production lines.

The lightweight reusable packaging units

Collaboration with KHS ensures that the bottles are ideally accommodated in the bottling and washing systems. This is a significant advantage when it proceeds to production lines. The new bottle design for reusable PET also boasts neck and base optimizations that support a real reduction in weight. The bottle weighs 55g, and the ALPLA specialists say further decreases can realistically be completed. 

In contrast, standard reusable plastic bottles weigh around 65 grams, while reusable glass bottles can even be as much as 550 grams – in other words, ten times the weight of their plastic counterpart.

The bottle created with a high flow rate in mind, notwithstanding its minimal material usage. The PET material has to be appropriately alkali-resistant to keep the quality and the look of the bottle even after multiple washing cycles. 

The ALPLA experts additionally considered the use of recycled materials in a report from the outset when developing this packaging solution. Also, when the bottle is withdrawn at the end of its life cycle, it can be recycled, and the material can be turned into new PET bottles. Overall, this innovative 1-liter reusable PET bottle takes into account the three principles of the ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’ waste hierarchy.

ALPLA has developed an optimised reusable PET bottle together with KHS, the specialist for bottling and packaging systems. The refillable bottle weighs up to ten grams less than the standard bottles that are currently available. https://t.co/NdlBjDfyTa pic.twitter.com/zIau1BiD1R

— ALPLA (@ALPLApackaging) March 16, 2020