PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2018

Bottle making 21 PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 12/18 www.petpla.net German start-up Share launches 100% recyclate water bottle Starting from scratch Berlin start-up Share is the first beverage producer in Germany to sell its water in PET bottles made of 100% recyclate. With its expertise from the Bottles & Shapes consultancy program the KHS group supported the company by helping to design and develop the bottle in a very short time indeed. The plans are ambitious: in 2019 Share is hoping to fill water into about a million bottles a month made entirely of recycled PET and thus save over 200 t of plastic waste per year. “The plastic problem is of concern to more and more people, because they now encounter plastic every day and even on the beach on holiday. Despite this, most drinks continue to be sold in plastic bottles, which are mostly made from crude oil and too often end up as plastic waste in the environment. Our share bottle does not require any new raw materials, thus closing the cycle of production and recycling. That way, we avoid over 200 t of plastic waste per year,” says Share founder Dr Sebastian Stricker. For several weeks now the product has been on sale at Ger- many’s supermarket chain Rewe and drug store dm and has caused quite a stir in the media. “It took a long time for the original idea to be implemented,” says Iris Braun, head of Product and Social Projects at Share. “Finalising the technology and obtaining certification are both lengthy processes. Your partners are thus crucial.” Besides the two afore- mentioned retailers Share’s other partners are bottler Mineralbrunnen Allgäuer Alpenwasser and preform manufacturer Plastipack, which is also the world’s biggest converter. KHS Corpoplast was also largely instrumental in the implementation of the project. Easy handling of rPET preforms The German engineering com- pany KHS supported the start-up in several ways, including in the devel- opment of the bottle design. Thanks to its holistic Bottles & Shapes consultancy program the systems supplier was able to contribute to the Share project experience drawn from over 4,000 designed bottles. Marc Eysel, who is responsible for sales in Northern Europe at KHS Corpoplast states that there were no unusual hurdles or challenges to be overcome through the use of 100% recyclate. “Manufacture is actu- ally simpler as the material’s darker colour makes the preforms easier to heat than PET bottles made of virgin material.” Besides providing advice on the bottle design KHS also helps with production. Share’s still and carbonated water is bottled at the Allgäuer Alpenwasser bottling plant in Oberstaufen using KHS technology. The bottles are blown on an InnoPET Blomax stretch blow moulder, with no special adaptations to the system necessary, according to Eysel. Following the market launch of the recyclate bottle, interest is now also growing among other beverage producers, emphasise Braun and Eysel. “A number of bottlers wishing to increase the amount of recycled PET they use have now contacted us,” claims Eysel. www.khs.com www.share.eu Share founders (from left) Sebastian Stricker, Ben Unterkofler, Iris Braun and Tobias Reiner (photo: Gene Glover) For each purchased product Share provides people in need with a similar product on the basis of the 1+1 principle. According to the company, one bottle of water provides enough drinking water for a day through the construction or repair of wells in crisis regions such as Senegal (photo: Victor Strasse).