Preserving the integrity of bottled water
As might be expected, food safety in terms of hygiene for packaging solutions naturally remains a key issue for beverage producers, and water is no exception. There simply is no margin for compromise. Whenever minerals are extracted or added, water becomes more susceptible to micro-organisms, which in turn increase the risk of possible contamination. In the United States, ozone can be used within the production process to overcome this issue. This approach also will be adopted in Japan soon, but has not yet been authorized in Europe.
Achieving the optimum bottle weight
The drive for lightweighting, extra lightweighting and even ultra lightweighting of PET bottles has recently brought about big reductions in the environmental impact and the cost of the packaging process. Today’s producers now are striving for the lightest possible bottle with the best mechanical performance. In fact, many already are applying this strategy in all of their production facilities and are close to achieving the optimum acceptable weight for their various brands. However, the limits of lightweighting have not yet been reached. In the next three years, the weight of a 1.5-liter PET bottle, for instance, is expected to fall below 20 grams.
The drive to take lightweighting even further must not compromise on performance, appearance or the feel of the finished bottle. Of significant benefit in this respect are solutions providers who have a comprehensive overview of all industrial processes involved in PET liquid packaging including blowing, filling, labelling, secondary packaging and logistics. For example, Sidel recently helped a major water producer in North America move from a bottle weighing 14.5 grams to one weighing 9.1 grams. This represents a 35 percent reduction in weight and has resulted in savings of about 70,000 tons of resin a year. With some 20 billion of these bottles produced each year, this equates to approximately $139 million in annual savings. This is a good example of partnering with a packaging expert and an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) like Sidel early in the process andbenefiting from a deep understanding of the packaging, the product, the technology and their mutual interdependency.
Sustainability and cost efficiency
Besides lightweighting, other sustainability and cost-efficiency factors are available. One is the need for optimal global packaging solutions. In order to maximize margins, producers need to keep overheads to a minimum. Packaging generally comprises approximately 70 percent of these production costs; distribution and logistics comprise 20 percent; and actual filling comprises only 10 percent. By minimizing the weight of the bottles, the consumption of raw material will be kept low. To reduce the overall carbon emissions produced throughout the life of the finished bottle, bottlers are increasingly beginning to use recycled PET or BioPET resin wherever it is readily available.
Many also are reducing the secondary packaging that accompanies the product — such as shrink-wrapping and over-wrapping — or eliminating it altogether. Maximizing the efficient use of resources, such as electricity, water and chemicals, and reducing the use of materials also is key. Ovens that can reduceelectrical consumption by up to 45 percent also are available. Labellers can contribute to both sustainability and cost savings by reducing film thickness, leveraging eco-responsible materials, avoiding the use of glue and solvents, and using lightweight bottles. Some liquid packaging solutions now replace bottle rinsing with dry decontamination of PET preforms using chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide in response to economic and environmental concerns about excessive use of water.
Water bottling lines of the future
Thirty years ago, bottling lines were composed of traditional, stand-alone equipment connected by air conveyor systems. In 1997, the market moved to an integrated Combi blow-fill-cap solution and was looking to improve hygiene standards. Steps in the future will focus on solutions to ensure better configurability, versatility and compactness while adapting to specific individual needs. Reliable and efficient, these lines of the future will be thoroughly hygienic and, in the opinion of Sidel, 100 percent dry-operation driven. They will be compact and simpler to operate to minimize intervention. They also will be operated remotely, using embedded intelligence to communicate with people or other machines. Key advances already are being made in this area, with new systems offering embedded machine intelligence, and increasing self-monitoring and process automation. This continuous and automatic process regulation improves quality control.
Meeting the challenges of a growing market
The market for bottled water continues to grow and evolve. Producers of bottled water need to recognize and react to current and emerging trends in modifying existing production lines, adding new lines, or building entirely new plants in established or new markets. The rapidly growing population has greater access to bottled water in general. In many countries, bottled water in PET is a source of safe drinking water in which hygienic packaging and the preservation of natural minerals are the prime concerns. For other countries, the convenience of ergonomic, single-serve, on-the-go consumption and the taste sophistication of carbonation, for example, are more significant market drivers.
Creative packaging solutions will continue to be a focus in what is a highly competitive market as consumers look for bottle shapes that differentiate what often is perceived as a standard commodity on supermarket shelves. In production terms, ongoing developments in lightweighting, reducing the use of raw materials, and optimizing water and energy consumption and the use of chemicals all remain important factors, as does the potential for increasing use of recycled PET and reducing the need for secondary packaging.
Water is an essential resource for everyone. Finding innovative, cost effective and environmentally sustainable ways to ensure the continued supply of bottled water will therefore remain a significant feature of the global soft drinks market.
