Refresco France, PepsiCo France and Sidel Jointly Receive Award for Efficient and Clean Technology

The Combi Predis/Capdis FMa features advanced dry technology for decontaminating preforms (the Predis) and during bottle closure (the Capdis).

Dec 12 2011 --- Refresco France, PepsiCo France and Sidel have jointly been awarded first prize in the category of “Efficient and Clean Technology” at the Prix Entreprises et Environnement (Enterprise and Environment Awards) in France. The award was handed by François Moisan, Executive Director for International Strategy and Research at the ADEME (Agence De l’Environnement et de la Maitrise de l’Energie/Environment and Energy Agency), during the Pollutec fair in Paris yesterday afternoon. The award has been given every year since 1987 by the ADEME, part of the French Ecology ministry, with the support of Orée, a non-profit organization that specializes in environmental management with businesses and local autorities, and Credit Cooperative.

Sidel’s main contribution to the award was the installation of its latest dry-decontamination technology for bottling beverages, the Combi Predis/Capdis FMa, at Saint-Alban-Les-Eaux, a Refresco France plant where Lipton Ice Tea drinks are bottled for PepsiCo France.

The Combi Predis/Capdis FMa features advanced dry technology for decontaminating preforms (the Predis) and during bottle closure (the Capdis). Compared with conventional wet bottle decontamination systems, the Predis uses no water, very few chemicals and less energy. These savings result from the use of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) as a disinfectant and the application of the decontamination process on the preform, which has a surface area that is 10 times smaller than its blown bottle, instead of on the bottle itself and during closure. This combination eliminates the risk of chemical residue and thus the need for sterile water rinsing. Furthermore, the energy needed for the disinfectant is virtually cost-free, because it takes advantage of the thermal conditioning of preforms. Because of its advanced decontamination technology, the Predis is especially suited for sensitive products like iced teas.

The award also embraces the ecological design of the bottles used by Refresco France, especially its choice of using 50% recycled PET. As a result of all these innovations, the Refresco France plant is now saving more than 1,700 tons of CO2 equivalent, 38,000 cubic meters of water, 2.5 million kWh of energy and more than 400 tons of virgin PET every year. Sterilant usage has also been reduced from 42 tons of Peracetic Acid (or Peroxyacetic Acid: PAA) to 6.7 tons of H2O2. Significant cost savings have also occured as a result. Throughout the project the quality of the bottled Lipton Ice Tea product was a non-negotiable priority. Thanks to the close collaboration between Refresco France, PepsiCo France and Sidel, the product’s high quality has been protected at all times, even when producing the above significant environmental and economical savings.

“The expectations of beverages players globally are becoming ever more focused on sustainability, product safety, flexibility and cost efficiency,” says Françoise Raoul-Duval, Sidel’s Vice President for Sensitive Products. “This can be especially hard for sensitive products, which require extra special care and expertise. Sidel is proud that the judging panel of Entreprises et Environnement has recognized the benefits of our Combi Predis/Capdis FMa technology. We are also proud that this resulted from a customer partnership to take an innovative and sustainable approach at the Refresco France plant for the benefit of PepsiCo’s popular Lipton Ice Tea drink. We look forward to continuing to work with PepsiCo, Refresco and our many other customers worldwide to achieve reliable, sustainable and cost-efficient solutions for sensitive products.”

Sidel is committed to working with its partners and the wider community to increase global understanding of PET, including recycled PET, as a 100% safe, recyclable and sustainable packaging solution for liquid foods. As part of our customer promise to be A Better Match, Sidel always strives to offer sustainable and cost-efficient solutions that are both reliable and flexible.