The new sauce bottle provides a viable alternative for brands (sauces, marinades, dressings, condiments, etc.) previously unwilling to convert to PET. Additionally, for brand owners seeking to minimize use of virgin materials, the bottle can be made with up to 50% recycled PET.
“When a PET substitute is produced for a specific fill volume it has a smaller footprint because the blow molding process results in sidewalls that are thinner than glass. That means reduced shelf presence and ‘hand feel’ that is less substantial. As a result, many brand owners marketing premium products have been reluctant to make the conversion,” explains Barry Sak, vice president, business development, Pretium.
In designing the new 12-oz bottle, Pretium’s objective was to engineer an alternative so brand owners could capitalize on the positive attributes of PET, but still keep the desired glass attributes.
Pretium selected a 40 g preform, which is approximately 50% heavier than those typically used for 12-oz PET sauce bottles. Pretium’s engineers were able to modify shoulder, neck, and label indentation areas, to end up with a bottle that met both fill and dimension requirements.
Now brand owners can benefit from PET attributes (shatter-resistance, less weight to transport, easier handling, etc.) while still having desired shelf and handling attributes. Additionally, as ecommerce distribution for food products continues to grow, PET’s lightweight and shatter resistance is ideally suited to withstand distribution challenges.
