Case Study

Raising the bar in PET bottle

lightweighting
By switching to lightweight PET bottles, carbonated soft drink manufacturers can demonstrate their
commitment to packaging reduction, and gain considerable economic benefits.

Lightweighting by numbers
510,000 tonnes. Weight of plastic
bottles that enter the UK waste
stream each year.
3,400 tonnes. Amount of packaging
material that could be saved if
the two new bottle designs were
adopted throughout the UK soft
drinks industry.
£2.7 million. The material cost
saving achieved if the whole of the
UK soft drinks industry adopted the
two new bottle designs.
2,811 million kWh. Amount of
energy saved if the two new bottle
designs were adopted throughout
the UK soft drinks industry.
276 tonnes. Savings in carbon
emissions if the two new bottle
designs were adopted throughout
the UK soft drinks industry.

Competitive costs, attractive aesthetics and 570 million bottles. The equivalent
format flexibility have established PET as a number of 30g bottles removed
widely used packaging material among UK from the waste stream if all bottles
soft drink brand owners. were reduced in weight by 10%.

However, the rise in the popularity of PET

bottles has inevitably been accompanied by The project investigated the commercial
an increase in the amount of PET packaging feasibility of reducing the weight of two PET
waste. With approximately 510,000 tonnes of bottles made by Esterform Packaging for
plastic bottles entering the UK waste stream two UK carbonated soft drink suppliers. The
every year, brand owners face mounting aim was:
pressure to take responsibility for reducing
the amount of material being used. to reduce the weight of a 2 litre bottle
from 42g to 40g; and
Lightweight bottles offer the soft drinks
industry massive untapped potential to bring the weight of Radnor Hills’ 25g
for reducing raw materials, processing, 500ml bottle down to an ambitious 20g.
distribution and energy costs.
The results confirm, that thanks to
This has been borne out by a project led by advancements in blow moulding, resin and
PET packaging manufacturer Esterform preform design technology, it is possible to
Packaging in collaboration with WRAP’s produce innovative lightweight PET bottles
(Waste & Resources Action Programme) which don’t compromise performance,
Innovation Fund. strength or appearance.
Raising the bar in PET bottle lightweighting

Benefits for business One of the potential problems when reducing

For the soft drinks industry, the implications the weight of PET bottles is that the process
of this project are exciting. If all 500ml and may result in a preform body diameter that
2 litre PET soft drink bottles sold in the UK is smaller than the diameter of the neck
switched to lighter weight preforms, 3,400 opening. This can lead to ‘nesting’ of the
tonnes of packaging material could be saved preforms, which can present difficulties
every year. when unscrambling the preforms for
blowing moulding.
Massive energy savings of 2,811 million
kWh could also be realised. To put this in
perspective, this is equivalent to the energy Key facts
required to power 703 three-bed households WRAP worked with Nextek
per year - showing that small changes can Limited and plastic bottle supplier
make a big difference. Esterform Packaging to trial PET
bottles that set a new lightweight
Per million 500ml Per million 2 litre For the UK’s 1,580 benchmark for carbonated soft
PET bottles (using PET bottles (using million PET bottles drinks.
20g rather than 25g 40g rather than 42g (500ml and 2 litre
preforms) preforms) bottle sizes combined) The new lighter 500ml and 2 litre
bottles performed as well as their
PET weight saving 5 tonnes 2 tonnes 3,400 tonnes
heavier counterparts.
PET material cost
£4,000 £1,600 £2,720,000 The new bottles clearly show
saving @£800/t
Carbon emission the potential for lightweight PET
0.41 tonnes 0.10 tonnes 276 tonnes
saving bottles of all sizes.
Energy saving 4,133 kWh 1,653 kWh 2,811,000 kWh Using lightweight bottles saves
raw materials, energy and carbon
European first at Radnor Hills emissions.
Through the WRAP project, Esterform
Packaging has set a new Best in Class
standard - developing Europe’s lightest
500ml PET bottle for carbonated soft drinks. Esterform Packaging designed 20g bottles
with four-foot and five-foot bases for Radnor
Hills. To eliminate nesting problems, these
preforms were shorter than the standard
25g preform, but larger in diameter.

When tested under pressurised conditions,

the five-foot bottle came out on top. This
is because a five-footed base provides
better material distribution and therefore a
stronger, more stable base.

The 20g bottles passed on-line tests for

assessing filling, capping and labelling
performance and met all of Radnor Hills’
filling and shelf-life requirements.

“We are extremely excited about the results

22g 25g 20g of these tests.” said William Watkins,
Standard 25g and lightweight 22g and 20g preforms Managing Director of Radnor Hills. “This
project has demonstrated that lightweight
Esterform Packaging aimed to reduce the bottles can perform as well as heavier
weight of Radnor Hills’ 500ml carbonated weight bottles, while offering significant
soft drink bottle from 25g to 20g. commercial and environmental benefits.”
 Raising the bar in PET bottle lightweighting

Lightweight PET is a pleasant surprise With PET costs at approximately £800 per
When Esterform Packaging demonstrated tonne, each reduction of 100 tonnes would
that it is possible to use a 40g 2 litre represent a material saving of £80,000.
bottle for carbonated soft drinks, a major
carbonated soft drinks manufacturer was Moving forward
keen to put it to the test. WRAP’s project with Esterform Packaging
proves to PET bottle preform manufacturers
and bottle fillers that lightweighting has
clear business benefits.

WRAP is keen to assist other companies

involved in the supply chain to replicate the
success of this project. The following points
need to be borne in mind when considering
implementing lightweighting of PET bottles:

new or modified moulds play an important

role in delivering the lighter weight
preforms, and their cost needs to be
calculated as part of the case for change;

change to preforms for lighter weight

bottles should coincide with pre-planned
mould modifications or renewal;

stocks of current preforms should be

carefully monitored to ensure that the
lighter bottles can be introduced as
41g 40g quickly as possible; and
Bottles and preforms of 40g and 41g
sharing information on new Best in
The 42g 2 litre bottles that were being used Class PET bottle weights within the
had already been reduced in weight from industry will maximise commercial and
44g, but the beverage filler was interested environmental benefits of lightweighting.
to see if further weight reductions could
be achieved.
More detail on the Esterform
Esterform Packaging designed a lightweight Packaging project, including a
40g bottle which was subjected to burst
pressure tests as well as carbon dioxide
full technical report, is available
retention and creep behavioural analysis, from www.wrap.org.uk/retail.
to determine whether lightweight bottles For more information, or
‘creep’ and lose their ‘fizz’ quicker than technical advice, contact the
heavier bottles. retail team at WRAP on
The bottle passed all the tests and met line 01295 819686 or email
filling, capping and labelling requirements [email protected].
in initial on-line trials. There are now plans
to carry out larger scale trials, in the first The WRAP Retail Innovation team
instance using a 41.5g preform, to validate works with retailers and their
these results. suppliers to reduce the amount of
packaging and food that households
If the filler decides to introduce the lighter throw away, and promote use of
bottles, it stands to accrue considerable recycled content.
cost savings.
While steps have been taken to ensure its accuracy, WRAP cannot accept responsibility or be held liable to any person for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information
being accurate, incomplete or misleading. For more detail, please refer to our Terms & Conditions on our website - www.wrap.org.uk

Waste & Resources The Old Academy, Tel: 01295 819900 Helpline freephone
Action Programme 21 Horse Fair, Fax: 01295 819911 0808 100 2040
Banbury, Oxon E-mail: [email protected]
OX16 0AH

www.wrap.org.uk/retail