PETpla.net Insider 11 / 2015

PACKING / PALLETISING 35 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 11/15 www.petpla.net bottles be insufficient for market test- ing or if the customer does not have his own preform or bottle capacity already installed, Preform Technolo- gies will get involved.” Preform Tech- nologies are specialists in small-scale bottle (and other parts) production and can accommodate an output up to 20 million preforms a year. When it comes to application technology, beverages continue to be the focal point of our projects in the USA. In the Personal and Home Care sectors, for example, any shift towards PET is taking place only slowly, if at all. The reasons for this lie in the wide range of extrusion blow moulding machines installed for processing PP and HDPE, which are able to react flex- ibly and quickly as well as cost-effectively to the frequent format changes within this particular area. In addition, the raw material prices for HDPE, PP and PET tend to be too closely allied which means that a change is not always worth implementing. As far as our projects are concerned, we envisage a growth in oxygen-sensitive packages. With regard to the barriers, a clear trend is emerging towards the use of active scavengers, at the same time co-injection and coating are falling by the wayside. Our foamed PET bottle technology deserves a mention here. By means of a foaming operation in the over moulding process, a layer is applied internally or externally to create an eye- catching effect for an even more marked differentiation between brands or products in the premium ranges. This tech- nology is becoming established for packages in the Personal Care, CSD, Beer, Wine and Spirits and Food sectors. Overall, however, growth expectations for PET packag- ing in North America are cau- tious despite the reasonable prices for raw materials. The reasons for this are rooted, among others, in consumer behaviour. The current trend favours a health- ier lifestyle and greater sustainability. Households are increasingly falling back on fresh foods and are restricting consumption of sweetened soft drinks e.g. the average bottle size for CSD has been reduced from 1,9 to 1,2l. The use of soda water machines on the domestic front is growing and the topic of recycling is increasingly gaining ground. Here PTI is once again being used, together with the offer of PET recycling projects in col- laboration with Phoenix Technologies (rPET). We extend our thanks for the detailed information and set off the same day on our journey towards Michigan. www.plastictechnologies.com