Lightweight 900ml PET bottle for edible oil in Brazil
Amcor has adapted its leading-edge engineering and design technology to develop the lightest 900-ml PET bottle for edible oil in Brazil. The custom- designed container for agribusiness and food producer Bunge, in São Paulo, is 22% lighter than competitive bottles while providing greater productivity and increased sustainability benefits, states Amcor.
The new bottle for Bunge’s Oleo de soja Soya brand represents Amcor’s entry into the edible oil market in Brazil. Amcor responded to Bunge’s industry-wide challenge to suppliers, developing a 14g container which weighs 4g less than standard bottles.
“This new bottle is a huge technological achievement because we were able to replicate the current bottle’s shape and specifications but at a lighter weight,” said Ivan Assenco, Amcor’s R&D process coordinator. “During a highly focused three-year development project, we leveraged our expertise in R&D, design, and engineering to create a one-of-a-kind bottle for edible oil.”
Lightweighting is an important differentiator in the edible oil market. Amcor developed a new lightweight preform which maintained the same shape while optimising topload strength, wall thickness, material distribution, and stacking strength. The container required a high stretch ratio so the team conducted a finite element analysis (FEA) study to optimise the design and meet wall thickness requirements. For the consumer, the redesign also maintains the same look, feel, and handling experience.
“At Bunge, we are always looking for possibilities to improve our performance at all operational levels of the Company and at the same time reduce our impact on the environment,” said Paulo Silvério, director of procurement for Bunge in Brazil. “In this project, we had many challenges, from designing a bottle with less plastic to introducing new filling technologies in our plants, but the result was excellent.”
The lightweight container delivers sustainability benefits by reducing raw material usage by about 4.4t/a of material. As a result, Bunge improved its manufacturing efficiencies and reduced transportation costs.
As demand grows for edible oil products, Amcor expects the lightweight container to be translatable to other similar applications in Latin America. As more consumers cooked at home during the Covid-19 outbreak, Amcor helped Bunge meet the surge in demand for its edible oil products.
