PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2012

EDITOUR REPORTS 32 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 03/12 www.petpla.net The cold aseptic installation used was a first for Europe, later a second one arrived from KHS. In addition to beer in glass bottles and cans, the annual production and filling operations in the PET bottles sector amount to around 70 million units and bottle sizes of 0.5 and 1.5l for the products Za (flavoured water), Zala (natural mineral water) and Sola (iced tea, multi- vitamin, still lemonade). As a result of the addition of natural fruit juices only and under a cooperation agreement with Wild, the flavoured water products have become very popular. The Slovenian beer customer is still not interested in PET as a packaging material for beer. The breakdown of distribution of PET bottles for beer, soft drinks and water is 80% for Slovenia and 20% for export. Caps are sourced via local producer T plast Mengeš (no PCO 1881s have so far been used and all closures are in principle suited to carbonated products), the preforms are supplied by subsidiary companies Radenska and Gastro- PET. In terms of design, all PET bottles stand out due to their square shaped bottles and a zigzag pattern in the lower third which is repeated both on the 0.5 litre bottles as well as on the 1.5 litre bottles. As regards the Slovenian market, Pivovarna Union retains 50% of the market share of beer and water, whilst a pro- portion of the beer bottling activities are also carried out for discounters such as Mercator and Spar. As far as the future is concerned, they are thinking about possibly converting to PCO 1881 and changing over from sugar to stevia. Radenska We met: Mr. Martin Lah, Technical Department Director Martin Lah (right) and Kay Krüger für PETplanet (left) in front of the Krones filler The (three) hearts of Radenska The history of Radenska goes back to 1833 when a Styr- ian medical student on his way through Slovenia happened to chance on mineral water springs. Decades later he returned and, in consequence, the year 1869 was the first time mineral water was filled into bottles under the brand name of Raden- ska. In 1923 the water was credited with health benefits. Shortly afterwards the Radenska logo – the three hearts – emerged and this is still used today. Just under 70 years later Radenska clinched a deal to act as a bottler under licence to Pepsi in Slovenia. However, the Radenska water was and still remains the main product right up to today, despite major slumps in sales as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Today Radenska “Classic“ water has for years been marketed