20 Mar 2010 --- Amcor Rigid Plastics, the world’s leading producer of PET Packaging, has launched a 12oz ring neck PET bottle as a glass replacement option for premium food and beverage brands including sauces, dressings, condiments, and ready-to-drink (RTD) teas and juices. The stock hot fill container breaks new ground because it offers a PET alternative that delivers significant performance and cost advantages including portability (no breakage), light weight, and reduced transportation costs. Consumers are drawn to the attractive, lightweight, and breakage-resistant features of the PET bottle compared to traditional glass containers.

Amcor conducted an extensive retail and market study and determined that there was strong demand for a glass replacement alternative. “Many packaging professionals told us they wanted to switch from glass but couldn’t find a PET equivalent,” explained Latricia Fry, Amcor marketing manager. “Due to the heightened awareness of sustainability today, there was significant interest in a PET alternative that could bring light weight, recyclability, reduced breakage, and reduced carbon emissions.”

The 12oz ring neck bottle features Amcor’s PowerFlex technology - a patented panel-less design which takes hot-fill (185° deg F) bottle options to a new level. The structural design eliminates the panels, and unlike competitive containers, provides a large, completely panel-less label panel. Amcor uses design and manufacturing techniques to create a bottle that absorbs vacuum via a patented designed base. A unique diaphragm within the base draws upward as the liquid cools. It has the geometric characteristics to enable the inverted cone-shaped diaphragm to deflect upward as the vacuum is created.

Unlike conventional hot fill PET alternatives, PowerFlex bottles are easier to label since they don’t have sidewall vacuum panels. Packers don’t have to worry about mislabeling, that is; missing the vertical bars in applying labels. Nor do they have to deal with the ripple effect that occurs when labeling over panels.

The 12oz ring neck container comes in two versions: one has three horizontal ribs for hot-fill (185 deg F) applications and the other has smooth walls for ambient temperature products (170 deg F). The new bottles boast a premium look and mimic the appearance of glass. Weighing in at 29 grams, the bottle also offers a wide range of sustainability benefits including recyclability, reduced transportation cost, and a significantly reduced carbon footprint.

The stock bottles are available in a 38mm 400CT finish and also a 38mm tamper-evident finish for beverage applications. PET formulations can include up to 100% food-grade post-consumer resin. The containers are being sampled now and will be commercially available in June. Amcor reports strong interest so far from several key customers in a wide range of markets.