PETpla.net Insider 10 / 2012

BOTTLE MAKING 33 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 10/12 www.petpla.net BTC Concept unveils stackable and lockable BottleClips A playful bottle BottleClips are based on a simple idea that has been a play- ground friend for generations: stacking and locking build- ing blocks. The 500ml packs clip and lock simply, enabling both retailers to use space efficiently - and making it possi- ble for consumers to create their own mix-and-match stack of flavours and textures, of beverages or other products. The heart of BottleClips is the clip-connect system that BTC Concept developed and has patented internationally. It can be integrated to bottles produced by injection blow mould- ing: PET, PE, PP, etc. The first examples of the new pack- aging are made of PET, as it happens. According to the inventors of BottleClips, Seiffeddine Bou-Mezrag and Yann Bassing, the idea came from the need to save space, to optimise storage utilisation and fill the spaces conventional bottles cannot reach. “Clipping bottles together emerged as a key feature, practical and fun for use at home, at the office or when on the go,” the inventors said. BTC Concept worked with PTI-Europe, a subsidiary of Plastic Technologies, Inc, on technical development and through to blow tests. The company claims that the result of the collaboration is a packaging solution that is practical, ‘playful’, and offers strong visual impact. This concept is designed to be suitable for beverages as well as other applications. It allows assembly of products, multi-brand or multiple-flavours without overpack, which means that consumers can customise the product by selecting their own flavours, or combine several associated products for “all-in-one” solutions, such as cereals, milk and fruit juice for breakfast, or for dietary programs. BTC has developed its prototypes with a reference volume of 500ml so that a combination of three bottles would be the height of a classic 1.5l bottle. The system is declinable to containers the volume of which can be up to 1l and with customizable shapes - identical or not. The company says that BottleClips can be produced at a similar cost to conventional bottles of the same volume and implemented on a standard production line, with moulds developed by the company. Seiffeddine Bou-Mezrag says that its progress in development has now enabled it to offer an industrial solution but a number of possible variants of BottleClips remain to be explored. “We are also working on the economic and environmental aspect in order to reduce the quantity of plastic,” he continued. “The 500ml non-carbonated BottleClips prototypes currently use 24g preforms. Our next objective is to go below 20g and to blow in BioPET.” The founders of BTC Concept filed the patent for their idea in 2007, incorporated in 2010 and attracted additional investment in 2011. They say that the company is now in touch with packaging and marketing teams from several large beverage companies. contact@btcconcept.com The stackable BottleClips is designed to be suitable for beverages as well as other applications