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PET bottles are making waves in the liquid dairy industry

Cartons and HDPE bottles still dominate the liquid dairy market, but PET bottles are coming on strong with comparable food safety benefits, better marketing opportunities, and a cost-effective and flexible production process.

Guillaume Rolland of Sidel says PET bottles are making inroads with the liquid dairy market because they offer better shelf differentiation and are more cost-effective to produce than cartons and HDPE bottles. Photo courtesy of Sidel.
Guillaume Rolland of Sidel says PET bottles are making inroads with the liquid dairy market because they offer better shelf differentiation and are more cost-effective to produce than cartons and HDPE bottles. Photo courtesy of Sidel.

While most liquid dairy products are still traditionally packaged in cartons or HDPE bottles, PET bottles are gaining momentum. According to Sidel, the France-based global packaging company, PET bottles offer the food safety and aseptic benefits of cartons and HDPE bottles, but provide better marketing opportunities and shelf differentiation while leveraging a cost-effective and flexible production process in comparison to their conventional carton and HDPE counterparts. ProFood World caught up with Guillaume Rolland, vice president of sensitive products at Sidel, to learn more about the potential and growing impact of PET in the liquid dairy market.

Do you see an increasing PET adoption trend in the liquid dairy products market?

Globally, the use of PET as a packaging material is expected to continuously grow within the liquid dairy sector. Traditionally packaged in carton or HDPE containers, liquid dairy products bottled in PET are forecasted to grow by 4.4 percent in the period from 2018 to 2020, [according to Euromonitor]. With 13.7 billion package units today, PET-packaged products are estimated to reach 14.9 billion units worldwide in 2020. The adoption of PET started in Europe nearly 20 years ago and has been deployed worldwide now for chilled and ambient distribution drinks, UHT milk, flavored milk and soy milk. The trend is even bigger around on-the-go formats than around family formats. In fact, the bottle sizes up to 500 mL represent more than two-thirds of those PET packages, meaning 8.3 billion units in 2018, projected to reach 9.6 billion units in 2020, [according to Euromonitor].

What are some of the main reasons PET is growing more popular in this segment?

When packaging liquid dairy products like white milk, flavored milk, enriched milk, plant milk, soy milk or drinking yogurt, multiple variables can influence their quality, including micro-organisms, light, oxygen and temperature. The PET growth can be credited especially to this packaging material’s 100 percent recyclability, its excellent barrier properties, and its neck and cap tightness that ensures food safety. Moreover, from transparent to opaque solutions, PET packaging alternatives can ensure top product protection and quality, while delivering the expected shelf life without the need for aluminum foil for a more sustainable business.

With light and oxygen affecting milk- and plant-based drinks, how can PET ensure a safe product?

PET barrier solutions ensure product safety across the supply chain with good oxygen barrier properties, 15 to 30 times higher compared to monolayer and three-layer HDPE. Regarding light protection, this is achieved through different preform manufacturing technologies and their light-blocking capabilities. One of them is the injection of monolayer preform, using a standard injection tool system and mixing PET material with a master batch from various suppliers. The other one is the multilayer preform, which can be produced using either over-molding or co-injection technologies. Those barrier solutions are adjustable in terms of additives and weight according to product recipe, bottle size and the desired extended shelf life to be achieved.

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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for Food Products at PACK EXPO Southeast