Many producers of consumer products choose PET containers for products ranging from household cleaners to personal care products (such as shampoos and bathing foams) because of the considerable advantages which the material offers.
These advantages include lower cost, safety, light weight and a smaller environmental impact. At the same time, the ability to mould PET containers in a wide variety of shapes and colours (including a clear, highly transparent format) offers the potential for high shelf appeal in a material which gives good functionality and long shelf life.
Safety
PET bottles are virtually impossible to break and, even when crushed, they have no sharp edges. There is no risk of production failures leading to sharp edges on containers or sharp fragments contaminating products.
Weight
PET is a strong and lightweight material. This means that transport costs for products packed in PET can be lower than for competing materials – and so can the environmental impact of the transport.
Environmental impact
Petainer is leading the way in reducing the environmental impact of PET packaging. As well as developing new designs and technologies that allow the conversion from other materials and/or permit the weight of containers to be reduced – therefore cutting materials consumed and reducing transport impacts – we are increasingly using recycled PET for container manufacture. We can now produce containers made from 100 per cent recycled material and all PET containers are fully recyclable.
Shelf life
The shelf life of a product depends on many factors. Where one of these is exposure to oxygen, PET can offer extended shelf life because of recent developments in barrier materials and technologies which keep oxygen out of the container – or even actively remove oxygen which is already present.
Where protection from light is important in extending shelf life, PET containers can be produced in highly opaque formats in a variety of colours.
PET is inert and resistant to attack from a wide variety of chemicals.
Functionality
PET containers can be rigid or flexible, offering the opportunity to create ‘squeezable’ packaging formats for products where this is appropriate.
PET containers can also support a wide variety of closure and dispensing mechanisms, including pumps and sprays.
Shelf appeal
The container can be a key component of the brand identity in highly competitive markets.
The design flexibility of PET enables distinctive, eye-catching shapes to be created to help establish brand identity and product differentiation. Containers can also be produced in an almost infinite variety of colours – or in naturally clear material which displays the product inside. The scope is limited only by the imagination of the designer.
This permits bottles to be created which boost sales through their ‘shelf appeal’, grabbing the attention of shoppers.
Petainer has considerable expertise not just in the technology of PET container manufacture but also in understanding consumers. We undertake international market research to investigate the relationship between brands, products, packaging and purchasing. This expertise is available to our customers through our extensive consultancy services.
We undertake fully-informed ‘packaging audits’ for brand owners, identifying opportunities to introduce new packaging concepts. We have helped major brands introduce PET packaging in order to obtain functional, cost and sales benefits. Combining our expertise in ‘design for manufacture’ and ‘design for market’ produces sustainable, cost-effective packaging with real shelf appeal.
We have a passion for innovation and for taking new ideas from concept through to production.
|