Dressed to Fill

Introduction

PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and PEN (polyethylene naphthalate) have enjoyed phenomenal success in the packaging market -especially for the manufacture of beverage bottles, and PET in particular has succeeded in replacing glass, or other types of plastic bottle in countless applications.

The use of PET as a material for beverage bottles began as long ago as the late seventies, although it was not until the nineties that its use really accelerated, with PET resin consumption for drinks bottles doubling between 1995 and 1999. From 1990 to 1998 PET increased its share of the soft drinks packaging market from 9% to almost 30%. It is estimated that by 2002 PET will hold a 42% share of this market (which includes water, carbonated drinks, juices and isotonics) and 5 percent or more of the beer market.

At the time of publication European producers of high quality mineral water, as opposed to table water or spring water, are starting to use PET bottles. In Europe and the USA fresh milk and milk beverages are marketed in PET bottles. The list is seemingly endless, including edible oils, sauces, and fruit juices - and the biggest hurdle of all, the market for bottled beer, has now been overcome with multi-layer bottles and state-of-the-art coating technology.

The advantages of PET are numerous. A typical 0,5 litre PET bottle weighs a mere 28 grams, against an equivalent glass bottle which can weigh over 350 grams. PET is also crystal clear, giving the bottle the attractive, clean and sparkling look which is so prized by mineral water bottlers. It can of course also be tinted to suit the demands of the product and the consumer.

The use of plastic bottles eliminates the problem of breakage associated with glass and, like glass, PET is totally recyclable. Nevertheless PET packaging, because of its innovative potential and design flexibility, is today regarded not so much as a straight competitor to glass, but a material which is capable of opening up totally new markets and establishing new consumer habits.

The increased use of PET as an innovative and future-oriented material has gone hand in hand with innovative machines specifically developed to produce and fill PET bottles machines with features such as totally automatic inspection and rejection systems, storage and recall of all operating parameters for each bottle or drink being processed, touch-screen control for real time changes to operating parameters, and remote service and trouble shooting by modem direct from the machin- ery manufacturer.

It is the relative ease with which plastic bottles can be produced that contribute to making PET such an attractive alternative for the drinks bottler. Bottles can be produced, fully automatically and fed directly to the filling line -eliminating bottle storage and handling, and giving the bottler total flexibility with regard to production rates and bottle configuration (anything from 0.5 litres to 3 litres).

In addition single trip (Advice from KRONES: one way or non returnable) PET bottles do not require crates. They can be adequately packaged on trays or shrink wraps without a card tray. This factor offers huge savings in handling, cleaning etc. For water and edible oils PET bottles with capacities of eight, nine or ten litres are not uncommon today. It is against the background of PET‘s recent success, but more importantly its as yet untapped future potential, that this book, detailing the machinery, technologies and processes involved in producing, filling, labelling and handling PET bottles, is published.