Lightweight champ

Amcor’s Latin America design team worked with PepsiCo-Lipton to develop a lighter, more functional bottle for Central American consumers. Source: Amcor Rigid Plastics.

Amcor Rigid Plastics has been named the winner in the beverage/nonalcoholic category of the AmeriStar Package Awards Competition, sponsored by the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP). The ultra-lightweight, hot-fill polyethylene terephthalate (PET) container was designed exclusively for PepsiCo-Lipton’s tea drink brand in Central America.

The 500ml package weighs 22g and utilizes a 33mm finish that features a 50 percent reduction in material over a traditional 38mm finish. The “tea-leaf” shaped body panels aid in the vacuum while providing visual movement and a gripping surface for consumers.

Additionally, the heat-set PET container enables manufacturers to achieve aseptic filling packaging weights without investing in new equipment; the bottle runs on existing filling lines with minimal changeover.

To achieve lightweight properties that withstand intense vacuum absorption, Amcor incorporated a vacuum absorbing base in the container, a light-weighted diaphragm-like structure that aids in the cooling process. “The structure of the bottle had to provide both function and aesthetics when absorbing the vacuum,” says Jeff Klok, senior industrial designer for Amcor Rigid Plastics.

The grip panels were inspired by the North American Pandora package that abstractly imitates the curvature of a tea leaf and lifts the consumer’s eyes toward the label.

Amcor and Bericap, in cooperation with PepsiCo, developed the industry’s lightest tamper-evident finish/closure for hot fill, weighing in at just 3.7g, a 7.9g reduction in weight compared to standard finishes/closures.

The new finish led to the creation of a Bericap closure with a built-in seal that eliminates rubber liners and induction seal foils. The Bericap closure is made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) instead of polypropylene (PP).

For more information:

Michael Hodges, Amcor Rigid Plastics, 734-302-2503,
michael.hodges@amcor.com, www.amcor.com.

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Debra Schug was Editor-in-Chief of Food Engineering. She began her media career over a decade ago writing and producing broadcast news for both television and radio at the local and national level. She spent many years as the managing editor for two trade magazines in the oil industry and the research editor for an annual petroleum report. She has a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University.