PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2011

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 10 PET planet insider Vol. 12 No. 09/11 www.petpla.net Finland Finland comes aboard In 2008, following the abolition of a tax on disposable bottles, Finland witnessed the start of the triumphal advance of the PET disposable bottle. In Part 1 we described the changes that went hand in hand with this, based on the particular type of bever- age. What is remarkable about Finland is the fact that, following the change in the law, all the bottlers bought themselves new filling lines at practically the same time. And, even though the basic parameters were similar for all of them, each of the bottlers arrived at a different layout. All the bottlers need to achieve the bulk of their business within a season lasting just 3 months and at the same time produce up to 100 different products on the same equip- ment. You can read for yourself how the individual bottlers have risen to the chal- lenge. The reports are about Olvi, Finn Spring, Hartwall and Sinebrychoff. by Alexander Büchler part 2 OLVI Mr. Pentti Pelttari, Technical Director Head Brewer Small is beautiful in Finland Of the three big breweries in Finland Olvi is the only one that is not owned by a multinational brand. Olvi has been brewing beer in Iisalmi since 1878 and since 1906 their bottling activities have also included soft drinks. (Cans and) PET bottles are used exclusively as containers for soft drinks. In total there are four plants bottling 137 million litres of beer and other beverages in PET, glass and cans (2010 data). Until 2008, PET, for Olvi, was synonymous with recy- clable containers. However, since that time there has been a shift to disposable. To achieve this, Olvi purchased a new disposable installation from KHS with a capacity of 18,000bph. ”We envisaged the changeover as an on-going, seamless process” said Mr. Pentti Pelttari, the Techni- cal Director and Head Brewer, however, the market took a different view. Virtually overnight the bottom fell out of the market for PET recyclable containers. It was not long before the PET recyclables plant had outlived its useful- ness. It was a plant for glass and PET, with bottle handling at ground level. The Finns dismantled it and rebuilt it as a glass plant at their subsidiary Lidskoe Pivo in Lida (Bela- rus) where it is in building. The Finns ordered not one, but Regional market reports Finland part 2