PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2020

BOTTLING / FILLING PET planet Insider Vol. 21 No. 03/20 www.petpla.net 26 Aseptic PET line for the Israeli market Extended shelf life white milk in PET bottles Yotvata Dairy by Strauss Group, locally well-renowned for their chocolate milk drink, was the first producer in Israel to manufacture Extended Shelf Life (ESL) white milk in PET bottles, an extraordinary development in the Israeli market. Recently, the liquid dairy manufacturer upgraded its 2 litre ESL milk bottle from HDPE to PET, thus introducing a completely new product for the country. With a new installed complete aseptic complete PET line from Sidel Yotvata redesigned its packaging. Despite having only 8.5 million inhabitants, Israel ranked number 15 globally for per capita spend on dairy in 2016. At the moment, the majority of dairy players in Israel are bottling their products in HDPE and carton, so Yotvata’s choice to increasingly adopt PET as their preferred packaging mate- rial contributes to a distinctive brand positioning and establishes them as pioneers on the market. A leading dairy producer Founded in 1962 and located in a kibbutz in the heart of the desert, approximately 40 km north of the Red Sea, Yotvata Dairy has demonstrated – against all odds – the feasibility of milk production under desert conditions. By combining long-standing expertise and focus on uncompromising quality, the company has been able to create a variety of rich tastes, expanding their dairy portfolio into new categories and becoming a leading dairy producer in Israel. Namely, the reputation of the taste of their chocolate milk sold at the small inn at the entrance to the kibbutz since the 1960’s has made this a “must stop” for anyone traveling to Eilat. Sidel’s PET packaging expertise critical for new product launch Yotvata had clear objectives around the launch of their new 2-litre PET milk bottle, targeted towards family house- holds: “We need to break the visual codes in comparison with the past and with our competition, as all local dairy producers – including us – were used to pack milk in 2 litre squared bottles in HDPE with a handle. Additionally, we want to ensure a great brand experi- ence for our consumers and maxim- ise opportunities for the bottles to be easily taken from supermarket shelves,” says Ram Srugo, CEO of Yotvata. This last point was especially challenging because the majority of Israeli retail- ers are storing cold-chain products in refrigerators where people need to extract goods from the top with a very limited permitted height. All these issues had to be addressed in a market that is particularly innovative in terms of prod- uct launches, while packaging formats are changing at a slower pace. How- ever, there is also a growing awareness for new, convenient and sustainable packaging solutions – at Yotvata and across the entire industry. PET is the obvious choice, not only with regard to its sheer limitless design possibilities but also with its lightweighting potential and recyclability qualities. The mate- rial offers considerable environmental benefits in the form of lower transport costs and overall reduction of raw mate- rial use. As a long-term business partner, Sidel supported Yotvata in design- ing and qualifying the new 2-litre PET bottle, helping the producer overcome any obstacle placed by the big size format, while enhancing users’ conveni- ence. The new design, which includes a reflection of the customer’s brand- ing on the top part of the container, concentrates the material’s tightness in the gripping area to avoid any splash- ing effect when pouring the product in a glass. Additionally, it is also counterbal- ancing the vacuum effect, which may impact products distributed via cold- chain. Variety of milk-based drinks While welcoming the increased demand for their wide range of milk- FILLING