The beverage industry is an ever-changing one, with new innovations on the market all the time. Beverages are sold in different containers and materials than traditionally, so it can be challenging to know which packaging will work best for your beverage. If you’re wondering what materials are best for your beverage packaging, then read more!
01.
Packaging Material for option
Glass
The most popular container for drinks is Glass. The Egyptians were even known to use goblets made of Glass. Glass is heavier than metal or plastic as a packaging material. Still, it remains a competitive substrate owing to its long shelf life, premium perception, and lighter weighting efforts. A glass bottle with turnkey glass bottling lines has a high recycling rate. A new glass bottle can have as much as 60-80 percent post-consumer material. Glass is often the preferred choice due to its ability to endure high washing temperatures and multiple reuse cycles. It’s a highly adaptable construction since it can keep your drink cold while avoiding any flavour transfer (like plastic). Glass bottles, on the other hand, are more susceptible to shattering than other beverage packaging choices. Thus they may not be ideal for delivery services or portable drink container filling. Because of their fragility and ability to impart tastes to liquids, glass bottles aren’t the most excellent option.
It’s a beautiful barrier material and is transparent, making it ideal for use in glass packaging. It is resistant to CO2 uptake and O2 ingress, which means it has a long shelf life when used in glass packaging.
The glass bottle shattering has improved with new manufacturing and coatings. Glass has become a more durable and customer-friendly package due to significant weight reduction and improvement techniques. When it comes to packaging, shape retention is an essential consideration for brand identification and consumer creativity. Glass is highly adaptable, maintaining its form after being formed. The characteristics of Glass make it one of the most popular beverage packaging materials. With their high recyclability, glass beverage bottles are an eco-friendly choice for beverage makers and consumers alike.
Plastic
Did you know that the purpose of the expiration date on a plastic bottle is to ensure product quality and consistency? A plastic bottle has a longer shelf life than glass or metal containers of comparable size. However, due to improved processing methods and barrier enhancements and rapid turnover rates, the package shelf life is now adequate for many applications.
A plastic beverage bottle may be moulded with ease. The package maintains the same form when subjected to high internal pressure for pressurized goods like soft drinks. However, plastic can be moulded into virtually any shape because of innovation, processing methods, and material improvements, even when pressured.
Plastic bottles are transparent, lightweight, refillable, and have a high safety factor when dropped. The collection of recycled materials might be a problem with plastic. Still, technological advancements are being made to allow greater levels of plastic recyclability.
Plastic beverage bottles are lightweight but durable, making them excellent options for transportation (or beverage packaging for on-the-go beverage consumption). They also don’t break nearly as quickly as glass bottles, making them a perfect choice for beverage containers.
Ceramic
Ceramic beverage bottles are another popular type of beverage container that’s available to beverage companies. They’re not as widely used for beverage packaging, however, because they can’t offer the same level of insulation that other beverage containers do (due to their porous nature), so they may be best suited for beverages with short shelf lives or beverage containers which are delivered locally rather than shipped across long distances.
Ceramic beverage bottles are another beverage container made from ceramic materials; they’re not very widely used because containers with longer shelf lives can’t be insulated well.
Aluminum
Aluminum beverage cans are great options for beverage packaging when you have a short shelf life or need to transport your beverages. They offer insulation comparable to glass and plastic beverage bottles, so they can’t keep your beverage as cold for as long. Still, they don’t break nearly as quickly. Aluminum beverage cans are also much lighter than glass bottles or plastic beverage containers, making them a great option when you need beverage packaging that’s easy to transport.
When it comes to beverages, aluminum is unique in that it has characteristics distinct from those of other metals. Metal ranks favourably about weight, recyclability, and security. It lacks uniqueness in terms of shape retention and transparency. Thanks to new manufacturing processes, cans may be moulded now, but these are expensive and limited to smaller market applications.
CO2, O2, and light are kept out by aluminum metal, which helps maintain its shelf life. A metal can is frequently used to create a cold temperature for consumers since it resists O2 ingress and maintains CO2 levels.
Paperboard
Paperboard beverage packaging is lightweight, flexible, and moisture resistant, making it an excellent option for beverage container materials when you’re shipping beverages across long distances or want to be able to transport your beverage without worrying about shattering the bottle (or can). It’s also much lighter than glass beverage bottles, which means that paperboard beverage packaging is excellent for beverage containers with long shelf lives or when you need to transport your beverage package.
Paperboard beverage bottle is another type of paper container used for beverages. It offers insulation and can be transported easily without breaking, unlike glass beverage bottles.
Metalized bottle
Metalized Beverage Packaging: If you’re wondering what beverage packaging materials provide the best insulation, then metalized beverage bottles are a great option. They offer both flexibility and strength, like paperboard beverage containers. Still, They can keep beverages colder for longer than other options such as aluminum beverage cans or ceramic beverage bottles.
Metalized beverage bottle is another type of metallic material used for beverage containers. It offers insulation and can keep beverages colder for longer than other options.
02.
Beverage packaging innovation should lie in lightweight.
How beverages are packaged and deciding on the type of packaging material – Glass, aluminum or plastic – is vital for beverage manufacturers.
In addition, beverage manufacturers should consider sustainability, cost, design, smaller package sizes and lightweight, or reducing the overall weight of the beverage container.
Franck Hansard, head of packaging products and processes at Sidel, noted that liquid packaging materials are being approached holistically.
Sidel offers a 500 ml PET packaging solution, X-LITE Still, for non-pressurized still water for their new bottled water business plan, weighing only 6.5 grams at 195 mm height while being compatible with rPET, recycled PET.
Hansard says: “This approach saves 1,485 tons of PET per year and 335,000 kilowatts of energy per year compared to a bottle weighing 12 grams. These emission reductions add up to 3,000 tons less CO2 emissions.”
In addition to being lightweight, the technology used to produce PET bottles has also changed dramatically and saved time, energy and money. Hansard explains: “In the past, the normal blowing air pressure to produce PET bottles was typically 35 to 40 bar (510 to 590 psi). Lightweight containers, especially water bottles for their water business plan, reduce the final blowing pressure to 20 to 25 bar (290 to 365 psi). This lower pressure significantly reduces the amount of air needed to blow the bottle.”
In terms of packaging, Megan Sanford, Ball’s director of marketing operations, notes that sustainability isn’t just a trend for Ball; it’s the foundation of Ball’s business.
“Aluminum is a single, fully recyclable material that is easy to sort and recycle. The cost to fully recycle aluminum cans is the lowest of all beverage packaging. In fact, there is a net cost-benefit to collecting, sorting and recycling aluminum cans. The metal drives the recycling process for the packaging and maintains its value.”
We strive to make the most sustainable beverage container on the market by improving aluminum’s inherent sustainability. For example, lightweight is an essential aspect of what we’re doing with Ball. The average weight of an aluminum drink can have decreased by 40 percent since we first started keeping track of this information in the 1970s. Today, aluminum cans are one of the most recycled beverage containers on the planet.
Robert Budway, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), noted that the most essential characteristics of aluminum cans for consumers and brand owners are taste, brand, product protection, performance and sustainability.
“Aluminum cans have many advantages, including the ability to do 360-degree branding, protect products from air and light, and improve portability, which makes them a great fit for today’s consumer lifestyles. Because of these advantages and the demand for mass-recyclable products in the U.S., beverage companies buy more aluminum beverage containers. The number of aluminum cans grew 3.5 percent in 2019 and 5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year alone.”
Many trends in the beverage industry are also affecting primary packaging alternatives, including negative media and consumer perceptions of plastic as non-biodegradable and its sustainability when it comes to plastic bottles.
Beverage manufacturers demand that more PET bottles use recyclable (PCR) plastic resins to be more sustainable. Still, they are often hindered by the increased cost of PCR resins.
However, many large beverage companies, such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Keurig Dr. Pepper, are leading the way in recycling containers and educating consumers about the recyclability of plastic bottles through their “Every Bottle Back” program in 2019.
In 2019, Sidel became a new signatory to the Global Commitment to the Plastics Economy. This global initiative was launched in 2018 by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Environment Programme to tackle the pollution crisis at its source. Today, it unites more than 400 organizations in a shared vision of a circular economy for plastics.
Industry Innovation
To provide more sustainable solutions for consumers, suppliers constantly research and release new packaging products to help protect the planet.
For example, PepsiCo North America is testing a 100 percent recyclable plastic ring alternative in the Sacramento market. In a statement, Emily Silver, vice president of innovation and marketing capabilities for PepsiCo North America, said, “We understand the growing concern about plastic packaging, so we are developing and testing a variety of alternative packaging to plastic rings. “It’s the correct thing to do for our customers, our company, and our planet.”
Speaking of the recyclability of cans, CMI’s Budway noted that the vast majority of recyclable cans are made into new cans, “making it a textbook example of the circular economy.”
Budway also notes that the recyclable content of aluminum cans averages around 73 percent, with an intrinsic value of more than $1,000 per ton of aluminum. As a result, it is the most valuable recyclable material.
Aluminum cans are also effective in protecting products from air and light. “The two biggest enemies for any beverage are light and oxygen, and aluminum cans are very effective at warding off these harmful elements, locking in flavour better than any other packaging type.”
Experts note that clear glass bottles, with their high-quality look and feel and the transparency of their words, cater to consumer demand and promote a sense of authenticity. Glass is also 100 percent recyclable and is often preferred by craft breweries and breweries looking to package their premium products in high-quality, unique packaging.
“Glass bottles provide the opportunity for vintage-inspired packaging and product lines and can be used for almost all types of beverages without having to worry about the barrier nature of the packaging or chemical reactions,” according to Hansard Sidel.
He also noted the growing popularity of reusable glass bottles compared to disposable bottles, which help reduce waste, improve recycled vapour and lower carbon footprints. “However, recycling and re-bottling systems demand the usage of rather neutral bottles, shifting design attention away from the bottle to the label and cap,” he adds.
With growing concerns about environmental responsibility, especially renewable materials, experts say primary packaging may increasingly turn to cardboard boxes and other plant-based sources. But plant-based resins are expensive and not currently available for liquid packaging.”
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Reference
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Where can I find more information about these Information if needed?
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