Indorama Ventures and SIPA Celebrate International Wine Day with World-First Sustainable PET Sparkling-Wine Bottle
By Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited
Bangkok, Thailand & Vittorio Veneto, Italy – May 25, 2023 – Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, one of the world’s leading sustainable-chemical companies, and SIPA, a leading PET packaging-technology specialist, have collaborated to bring the world’s first sustainable, mono-layer PET sparkling-wine bottle to market, celebrating International Wine Day.
The award-winning PET packaging solution for sparkling wine provides brands with a fully recyclable option that maximizes logistics efficiencies, minimizes handling risks, runs on existing glass-filling lines, and has a lower carbon footprint.
Developed and designed by SIPA’s Packaging Development Team and made from Indorama Venture’s original bottle resin and OxyClear® barrier, the patented bottle is an improved alternative to traditional glass bottles. Helping the European wine industry address a glass shortage due to supply-chain, energy and raw-material challenges. The average cost of a glass wine bottle increased 23 per cent from April 2020 to April 2023 and doubled in some European markets.
The new bottle was awarded top prize in the 2023 Best Packaging contest at Milan Design Week. It gives the same look, functionality and feeling of a traditional glass sparkling wine bottle. A key SIPA innovation is the design of the bottle neck to make it look like the glass version, allowing it to accept the classical mushroom-shaped cork with metal cage closure. The base also matches the original glass version, while the bottle has a top-load resistance of 350 kg.
Marco Brusadin, Global Packaging Development Director at SIPA, said, “With this proud innovation for the market, our intention is for consumers to enjoy the same celebratory sparkling wine experience – from uncorking to pouring. And second, to support the industry overall as wine companies can make the change at no cost, as extensive tests have proven that PET bottles can run on filling lines designed for glass bottles. The collaboration with Indorama Ventures offers environmentally improved packaging, while allowing brands to stand out by taking a stance on sustainability and differentiating themselves at point of sale, with creative shapes, easy-to-design bottles and improved logistics.”
At just 90 g, the new PET sparkling wine bottle is about 80 per cent lighter than a traditional glass bottle and is almost unbreakable. The optimal weight allows up to 33 per cent more bottles per truck, and its shatter-proof properties help improve mobility logistics. These advantages offer wine brands opportunities in new channels like e-commerce and onboard transport, as well as new consumption occasions at festivals and events. Numerous tests of the barrier material conducted at the German Institute of Geisenheim showed that OxyClear® PET Wine bottles offer the same benefits and functionality of glass after 24 months in storage at 15 degrees.
The new PET bottle comes with strong sustainability credentials to match consumer demands. It is fully recyclable in regular recycling streams, while PET on average emits less than half of the level of greenhouse gases (GHG) of glass bottles. This development is an important demonstration of how PET’s flexible, safe and lightweight properties are driving sustainable growth in packaging as the most recycled plastic in the world.
Marc Potemans, Business Head of Specialty Chemicals at Indorama Ventures, said, “Indorama Ventures’ advanced barrier resin delivers a mono-layer PET sparkling wine bottle with many advantages. The excellent oxygen barrier gives a minimum shelf life of 24 months, and the packaging has glass-like clarity while protecting the sparkling wine’s taste, bouquet and, importantly, effervescence. The new bottle is fully recyclable in the standard clear PET stream. The SIPA and Indorama Ventures’ teams have developed this solution quickly and we can now support the full supply chain.”
With almost 40 years of experience in PET containers solutions, SIPA has acquired considerable expertise in all available bottle manufacturing and filling technologies, from preforms to finished products, for the food and beverage, chemical-products, cosmetics, detergents and pharmaceutical sectors. With headquarters in Italy, the company can rely on 23 sales branches, four manufacturing facilities (two sites in Italy, one in Romania and one in China) and 21 service centres for fast access to service, parts, and expert engineering support. SIPA also offers injection-mould refurbishing and conversion services, with seven refurbishment centres in Italy, China, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil and the United States.
For more information, visit Machineries for bottles, containers and moulds in PET production | SIPA (sipasolutions.com)
About Indorama Ventures
Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, listed in Thailand (Bloomberg ticker IVL.TB), is one of the world’s leading petrochemicals producers, with a global manufacturing footprint across Europe, Africa, Americas, and Asia Pacific. The company’s portfolio comprises combined PET, integrated oxides and derivatives, and fibres. Indorama Ventures products serve major FMCG and automotive sectors, i.e., beverages, hygiene, personal care, tire and safety segments. Indorama Ventures has about 26,000 employees worldwide and revenue of US$18.7 billion in 2022. The company is listed in the Dow Jones Emerging Markets and World Sustainability Indices (DJSI). For more information visit: www.indoramaventures.com and www.dejaindorama.com
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