Plastic drinks bottles:

How to find the right packaging

For non-alcoholic beverages, plastic has become the ideal packaging material in recent years. There are a lot of reasons for this, but it’s mainly due to the ease of handling, the low transport weight and the fact a plastic bottle doesn’t break.

Especially when it comes to sustainability, plastic bottles have a worse reputation than they actually deserve. Compared to glass or metal packaging, plastic bottles are significantly more energy-efficient in production. PET bottles are also characterised by a high level of recyclability.

Plasticisers are also not found in plastic drinks bottles. Contrary to many media reports, the plastics PET, PE, PP and PS used for drinks bottles and their screw caps do not contain plasticisers.

If you opt to fill your drinks in plastic bottles, there are a few points to keep in mind.

Sterilisation: Commercially available PET bottles may only be filled with liquids up to a maximum of 45° C. This means that preservation by heat is not possible. For products such as freshly squeezed juices or smoothies, heating is not possible at all or can even be harmful to the product. This means the shelf life is limited to just a few days. HPP (High Pressure Processing) is becoming increasingly popular, especially for the preservation of heat-sensitive products. Here, bacteria, viruses and spores in food are killed with up to 10,000 bar pressure. This means that preservatives don’t have to be added.

Maximum internal pressure: If carbon dioxide is to be added to drinks, a bottle specifically suited for this purpose must be selected. CO-suitable plastic bottles are usually designed with a petaloid base and special 28-mm caps Drinks bottles with flat bottoms or 38-mm threaded caps are generally not suitable for this. The high internal pressure of 3 - 4 bar would dent the bottom and overload the closure.

Drinking opening size: If you want to drink directly from the bottle, if the drink is thick or if it contains large pieces of fruit or vegetables, a 38 mm wide-neck bottle is usually recommended. These wide-necked bottles have become particularly popular as smoothie bottles. For thin or CO²--containing beverages, 28 mm threads are commonly used.

Light protection: Depending on the degree of light protection required, clear PET bottles with UV blockers or amber coloured PET bottles with UV protection can be used.

Plastic bottles have become the perfect packaging for drinks for a reason. They are lightweight, which saves fuel during transport, and they are materially pure and therefore very recyclable.

Plastic bottle range at Packari.