The many gains of lightweighting

Lightweighting has been the way forward for PET packaging, considering the overall cost and environmental benefits it offers.

Sidel has provided many beverage manufacturers with its lightweighting technology for PET packaging. Most recently, its collaboration with Brazilian Algar Agro yielded the world’s lightest 900ml PET bottle for edible oils.

The redesign of Algar’s bottles brought the weight down from 18 grams to 14 grams. While the new bottles are 22 percent lighter, the overall appearance remains the same.

Lightweighting brings significant savings in raw materials and in the cost to produce, package and transport the finished product, along with lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the production equipment itself.

Sidel drew up the proposals for the bottle’s packaging optimization and carried out feasibility tests for the new design at its Packaging & Tooling Centre in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Edney Valente Lima Filho, a Project Manager with Algar Agro, explained: “We put together the best industry suppliers and this is reflected in the project results. The success of Sidel was assured by the know-how demonstrated during the negotiation to propose and ensure the new bottle for vegetable oil - the lightest in the world!”