Sidel designs bottles using Kortec LB preforms for 100% light-blocking capability to protect milk and other light-sensitive products.
Sidel is pleased to announce the creation of a new PET bottle that offers 100% light-blocking capabilities, to protect milk and other light-sensitive products. The bottle utilizes Kortec LB (light blocking) technology, a new multi-layer, co-injected preform that blocks light completely, which Sidel developed in co-operation with Kortec, the world's largest supplier of turnkey co-injection systems to the plastics and packaging industries.
The newly developed technology enables the production of a preform with three layers of PET. The three layers comprise white layers on the outside and inside, sandwiching a black layer in the middle. It is this vital middle black layer that enables 100% light-blocking, providing the necessary protection for light-sensitive milk and other products. As it follows the contours of the whole of the bottle, echoing its shape all around - including the base - the black layer provides absolutely no access for light. The three-layer preform is used to blow the finished PET milk bottle shape, designed by Sidel, thus giving producers the means of delivering a safe and attractive package for light-sensitive beverages to their customers.
Sidel Packaging Project Manager, Naima Boutroy, explained -"Sidel has over 40 years of experience in dairy bottling solutions and we have always looked to develop and adopt innovative technologies. Our new bottle protects the product throughout its lifecycle in the package, from production through the supply chain to the consumer. By combining Kortec's LB preform with Sidel's bottle design expertise, we have a solution that ensures product quality while also addressing the consumer-driven demand for a uniform look to the packaging."
Russell Bennett, Vice President of Kortec Sales and Marketing, continues: "This is a real breakthrough in packaging technology for milk and other light-sensitive products. By keeping light out, it provides total protection of the milk, and it does so in a PET package that features white on the outside and inside, an attractive package that consumers really want."
Placement of barrier-layer material and dispersion is critical in blocking the correct wavelengths of light in the finished bottle. Using the 25g preforms originally produced by Kortec, Sidel was involved in the design and production of 1-litre bottles for milk, liquid dairy products (LDP), juices and other sensitive drinks and beverages.
The design flexibility of the new preform offers the lowest overall total cost of any light-blocking packaging technology on the market today, according to Kortec, along with the potential of attractive packaging that is able to differentiate sensitive products on supermarket shelves. Further benefits of the new technology aside from 100% light-blocking include: minimal use of raw PET material; minimal use of colorant materials; fast cycle times; and compatibility with moulds comprising up to 128 cavities.
"Sidel is always looking at opportunities to partner with suppliers up and down the supply chain, to develop innovations that ultimately deliver value to our customers and end consumers," comments Sidel Vice President for Packaging & Tooling, Vincent Le Guen. "This is an excellent example of such a partnership, resulting in a great PET milk bottle that we look forward to introducing to our customers. Alongside this project with Kortec, we continue to explore the potential to create value through such co-operation with other suppliers."
Photo Kortec:
Kortec LB Preforms, developed in cooperation with Sidel and shown next to the finished 25g PET milk bottles, consist of three layers of PET: white on the outside, black in the middle, and white on the inside. The light-blocking black PET layer can be seen in the cutaway preforms seen below.
