Eckes-Granini is making a change: the 1-litre bottle of the „Hohes C“ brand is now made from 100% recycled plastic (rPET). The company also plans to use only PET bottles made from 100 per cent rPET for all brands by the end of 2022.
Previously, Eckes-Granini had opted for PET bottles with an rPET content of 25 per cent for the Hohes C brand. In view of the EU's plastics strategy and the increase in recyclate quotas contained therein, the company has now decided in favour of rPET bottles. Complete switch to recycled PET explains Hermann Naumann, Plant Manager at Eckes-Granini. The company is also pursuing a clear sustainability strategy.
„Our goal is to reduce CO2-footprint within production and for our packaging. This includes both reducing material consumption and closing the recycling loop,“ says Naumann. Eckes-Granini Germany therefore plans to achieve the following by the end of 2020 Only PET bottles made from 100 per cent rPET for all brands to be used. According to Eckes-Granini, the conversion of Hohes C's 1-litre bottles in May will save more than 4,000 tonnes of new PET per year. This will enable the bottler to reduce its CO2-emissions by around 8,000 tonnes per year.
Conversion to PET bottles made from 100 per cent rPET
Responsible for the bottle optimisation were the Bottles & Shapes specialists from KHS from Hamburg. They realised the changeover to 100 percent rPET with the required homogeneous and consistent container quality. The feasibility of the changeover had to be tested on the InnoPET FreshSafe block from KHS, which has been in use since 2017. „Among other things, it was a question of whether adaptations to the preform or the system were necessary,“ explains Dr Matthias Kruse, Head of PET Technology at KHS. KHS. „We have the Quality of the recycled PET material evaluated. This is crucial, because large variations in colour, molecule length and inhomogeneity quickly reduce the efficiency of production.“
According to Kruse, the fact that Eckes-Granini processes preforms from two suppliers was another challenge. Particularly with a high proportion of rPET, the Geometry of the blank This is crucial for efficient processing. After extensive tests, it was clear that both preforms work stably on the block solution. Only minimal adaptations to the oven of the stretch blow-moulding machine were necessary for optimum bottle production.
KHS„ NIR (Near-Infra-Red) technology in particular opens up a wide process window for processing rPET. This allows the preforms to be heated with pinpoint accuracy before the stretch blow moulding process. No major changes to the system or the geometric properties of the preforms were required. "In this way, we have achieved a very high Process efficiency with consistent container quality, thus completely fulfilling our customer's specifications,“ says Kruse.
rPET bottle fulfils barrier properties
Even after the switch to PET bottles made from 100 per cent rPET, the advantages of the Barrier protection of FreshSafe PET. Eckes-Granini has been using the solution from KHS since 2006. The oxygen barrier made of chemically pure glass, a wafer-thin coating on the inside of the PET bottle, not only effectively protects the juice from oxygen ingress, but is also 100 per cent recyclable. The coating on Eckes-Granini bottles can be easily washed off during the recycling process. The packaging alternative therefore enables the Single-variety bottle-to-bottle recycling.
[infotext icon]Eckes-Granini was founded in 1857 by Peter Eckes in Nieder-Olm. The company's brand focus is on juices, fruit drinks and smoothies. Over 800 million litres of beverages are bottled each year in PET bottles, Tetrapaks, glass bottles, bag-in-boxes and cans. The company exports to 80 countries worldwide. [/infotext]SourceKHS : KHS
