Wine | Petainer


Wine The use of PET bottles for wine is in its infancy. The vast majority of wine is sold in glass bottles.


There are reasons to believe that more wine will be sold in PET bottles over the next few years in much the same way as there has been a shift from corks to screw caps. Increasing numbers of producers and retailers of wine are switching to PET because of the considerable advantages which the material offers – in particular, greater safety, lighter weight, marketing opportunities, lower cost and a smaller environmental impact than glass. At the same time, PET offers good shelf life and shelf appeal. Safety PET bottles are virtually impossible to break and, even when crushed, they have no sharp edges. For wine makers, bottlers, shippers and retailers (as well as for end users) the integrity of PET bottles means no losses from breakage and no danger from broken bottles. There is also no risk of production failures leading to sharp edges on containers or sharp fragments contaminating products. Weight A typical PET wine bottle weighs only around 20 per cent as much as a typical glass wine bottle of the same volume – and although the bottle holds the same volume of liquid, it is significantly smaller in size. This means that more wine can be shipped on a single truck, lowering the transport costs for wine packed in PET and also lowering the environmental impact of the transport. Environmental impact Studies have shown that producing PET bottles results in less greenhouse gas emissions and uses less energy than producing glass bottles. PET bottles are fully recyclable. A report from UK government agency Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) compared the environmental impacts of glass and PET for bottling wine shipped in bulk from Australia. It demonstrated that PET has significantly better environmental performance than glass. The use of refillable PET bottles has all the environmental benefits implicit in the material combined with benefits arising from the bottle being reused up to 25 times in its lifetime, prior to being recycled in a ‘closed loop’ where the material is used to create new containers. Where systems and facilities for this type of reuse and recycling exist, this is a highly sustainable packaging technology. Petainer is the market leader in refillable technologies in Western Europe and Scandinavia and we are working closely with many major brands to further improve the environmental performance of refillable containers. Shelf life The shelf life of bottled wine is determined largely by its exposure to oxygen. Recent developments in PET have greatly increased the shelf life that it can offer to bottled wine because of significant improvements in barrier materials and technologies which keep oxygen out of the bottle. Shelf appeal Petainer has a passion for innovation and for taking new ideas from concept through to production. PET wine bottles can be produced in a wide range of shapes, sizes and colours. 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. We have considerable expertise not just in the technology of PET bottle 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 are able to undertake fully-informed ‘packaging audits’, 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 believe that there is a great future for PET wine bottles if the industry properly grasps the opportunity now available. Kegs Petainer has launched a family of lightweight PET kegs in sizes up to 40 litres. Designed to be recycled with other PET containers once empty, the Petainer Keg offers substantial environmental and economic benefits for the high volume sale and marketing of wine.

There are reasons to believe that more wine will be sold in PET bottles over the next few years in much the same way as there has been a shift from corks to screw caps. Increasing numbers of producers and retailers of wine are switching to PET because of the considerable advantages which the material offers – in particular, greater safety, lighter weight, marketing opportunities, lower cost and a smaller environmental impact than glass. At the same time, PET offers good shelf life and shelf appeal.

Safety
PET bottles are virtually impossible to break and, even when crushed, they have no sharp edges.

For wine makers, bottlers, shippers and retailers (as well as for end users) the integrity of PET bottles means no losses from breakage and no danger from broken bottles. There is also no risk of production failures leading to sharp edges on containers or sharp fragments contaminating products.

Weight
A typical PET wine bottle weighs only around 20 per cent as much as a typical glass wine bottle of the same volume – and although the bottle holds the same volume of liquid, it is significantly smaller in size. This means that more wine can be shipped on a single truck, lowering the transport costs for wine packed in PET and also lowering the environmental impact of the transport.

Environmental impact
Studies have shown that producing PET bottles results in less greenhouse gas emissions and uses less energy than producing glass bottles. PET bottles are fully recyclable.

A report from UK government agency Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) compared the environmental impacts of glass and PET for bottling wine shipped in bulk from Australia. It demonstrated that PET has significantly better environmental performance than glass.

The use of refillable PET bottles has all the environmental benefits implicit in the material combined with benefits arising from the bottle being reused up to 25 times in its lifetime, prior to being recycled in a ‘closed loop’ where the material is used to create new containers. Where systems and facilities for this type of reuse and recycling exist, this is a highly sustainable packaging technology.

Petainer is the market leader in refillable technologies in Western Europe and Scandinavia and we are working closely with many major brands to further improve the environmental performance of refillable containers.

Shelf life
The shelf life of bottled wine is determined largely by its exposure to oxygen. Recent developments in PET have greatly increased the shelf life that it can offer to bottled wine because of significant improvements in barrier materials and technologies which keep oxygen out of the bottle.

Shelf appeal
Petainer has a passion for innovation and for taking new ideas from concept through to production.

PET wine bottles can be produced in a wide range of shapes, sizes and colours. 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.

We have considerable expertise not just in the technology of PET bottle 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 are able to undertake fully-informed ‘packaging audits’, 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 believe that there is a great future for PET wine bottles if the industry properly grasps the opportunity now available.

Kegs
Petainer has launched a family of lightweight PET kegs in sizes up to 40 litres. Designed to be recycled with other PET containers once empty, the Petainer Keg offers substantial environmental and economic benefits for the high volume sale and marketing of wine.