Sidel claims lightest industrial bottle at the highest production speed

Sidel's latest X-Lite Still 500 ml PET packaging solution for non-pressurised still water features a light industrial bottle design. The blow moulding machinery company says it is the most cost-effective and sustainable packaging available on the market, adding that the pioneering solution addresses the still water market for small size PET bottles, in particular, producers looking to optimise their packaging and production costs.

Sidel also claims that with 6.5 g of weight and a height of 195 mm, the X-Lite Still is the lightest 500 ml PET bottle in the world for non-pressurised still water. This bottle is complemented by a Novembal Novaqua RightCAP26 closure.

It integrates the StarLite Still base solution, already implemented worldwide due to its increased stability and stress resistance through the value chain, design flexibility and lightweighting possibilities it offers. Moreover, the energy savings enabled by StarLite Still – mainly achieved through a reduction in blowing pressure and heating power – are significant, with no compromises on the packaging performances. This base design can be adapted to all Sidel blowing platforms and applied to existing production lines to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

The bottle has been optimised by the company’s engineers for the Sidel Super Combi, the single solution integrating five process steps: preform feeding, blowing, labelling, filling/capping and cap feeding.

“Based on a dedicated preform design for optimal mechanical performances, this latest addition to our packaging portfolio is able to withstand label application on the empty bottle, in spite of its extremely light weight. It allows for the ideal bottle shape design for nested packs and enables an optimum top load resistance of 34 kg, able to match the supply chain requirements in terms of pallet stability," explains Laurent Naveau, Sidel Packaging Expert.

As the lightest bottle in the world for still water, Sidel X-Lite Still reduces the consumption of PET resin: for example, when compared to bottles weighing 12 g, the new solution can save 1,485 tonnes/year of PET while generating energy savings of up to 335,000 kWh/year. Combined, these reductions amount to 3,000 tonnes of CO2 saved. For bottled water producers, this means that the cumulated savings of PET resin and energy can reach up to EUR2 million per year, according to Sidel.

“For our customers, the new preform design and neck finish featured by the X-Lite Still packaging solution translate to a very fast payback on their investment, even when the line retrofit includes a completely new injection stack”, says Laurent Naveau. “By switching from a 12 g PET bottle to the X-Lite Still 6.5 g bottle, the payback time for a line upgrade would only be between two to four months.”

(PRA)

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