PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2020

BOTTLE MAKING 41 PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 07+08/20 www.petpla.net Ecology and economy Over the years, the company has developed a number of sustainability concepts. It has been able to reduce the use of material in PET bottles by 12%, and by 15% for HDPE and PP closure caps. The company is keen for the issue of post-consumer-waste to be taken seriously. “Companies that bring plastics into circulation are being held more account- able,” Ms Chauhan said. “As part of the Extended Producer Responsibility Pro- gramme (EPR), we have joined forces with associations such as the Indian Pol- lution Control Association and with waste management companies such as Nepra, Shakti Plastic Industries and Ramky Enviro Engineers.” The EPR programme is targeting the collection and recycling of some 3.1 billion PET bottles per year in India alone, equivalent to 50,000t of PET waste. Recycling machines have been set up for the collection of empty PET bottles. Additional partnerships have been launched with Action Alliance for Recy- cling Beverage Cartons (AARC) and Packaging Association for Clean Envi- ronment (PACE). “We need sensible approaches for making use of the waste that we have here,” Ms Chauhan continued. “Last October, our employees conducted coaching sessions for 15,000 students in 13 states on how to manage waste cor- rectly. We repeat this every six months; we see it as part of our responsibility.” www.parleagro.com State No. of plants Uttarakhand (Sitarganj) 1 Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi, Ghaziabad) 2 Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal + Gwalior) 1 + 1 planned Odidha (Khordha) 1 Maharashtra (Patalganga) 1 Karnataka (Mysore) 1 Telangana (Hyderabad) 1 Andhra Pradesh (Vijayawada) 1 planned Tamil Nadu (Chennai) 1 Parle Agro’s 160ml bottle development Developments and innovations Parle Agro today packages its products in PET and cartons and, to a limited extent, also in cans and glass bottles. Its output is split approximately 66% for juice and 34% for water. Its pioneering tradition remains strong: it was one of the first producers in India to use a 180-cavity mould. Schauna Chauhan explained how the company is positioned in terms of production technology. “In addition to nine company-owned bottling plants, we have four franchise bottling plants nationwide for fruit juice and water, 63 additional franchise plants for bottling water and five plants that fill in returnable glass bottles only,” she explained. “We also have three pre- form production facilities: in Sitarganj, Uttarakhand; in Khorda, Odisha; and in Silvassa, Gujarat.” Two more company- owned plants – one in Andhra Pradesh and one in Madhya Pradesh – are soon to be added to the current nine. Production output, employment and resources Parle Agro consumes around 47,450t of PET annually in producing 116 million preforms and bottles. Pre- forms, which range from 8.5g to 46.4g, are made on 13 machines from Husky, Sipa and Krauss Maffei, with a total of 1,280 cavities. The company relies on equipment from Sidel, Newamstar and Tech-Long for bottle blowing; filling is undertaken on KHS, Hilden, Newam- star, Tech-Long, Hymech and Jieh Hong machinery. The PET bottles are designed to contain 690 million litres of water, 13 million litres of Appy Fizz and 12 million litres of Frooti. Final packag- ing of the bottle cases is done with SMI, Newamstar and Tech-Long equipment. Packaging sizes across its full prod- uct range extend from 65ml up to 20l. These numbers mean that the company is counted among India’s top three lead- ing beverage players. Water products are packaged in bottles with TSSN (two start short neck) finishes; PCO1881 necks are used for fruit juices and CSDs. It also uses proprietary, in-house developed bottle, neck and closure systems, such as a 19g short-neck preform for 1l bot- tles and 9.6g preform for the 160ml Appy Fizz bottle. A completely new, Parle Agro-designed and developed, 25/19mm closure for small beverage containers is a world’s first. The company currently employs roughly 4,500 people; headcount is set to increase as the sales department expands. Parle Agro says that its market share in India for fruit juice drinks in the FFSD (fruit flavoured still drink) category is 25%, with a PET/carton packag- ing ratio of 61/39%. Revenues in 2019 amounted to US$700 million. While it is a forward-looking and innovative company, its corporate strategy is firmly based on backward integration. “We are one of a few beverage makers in India that designs and pro- duces its own preforms,” Ms Chauhan explained. The 160ml bottle is one of those in-house developed bottles. “We are continuously developing our packag- ing and can match designs and weights on an optimum basis in terms of yield ratios for the respective applications.” Closure cap production, by contrast, is not part of Parle Agro’s operations. It is supplied with compression moulded closures by OCL, Hitesh Plastics, Secure Seal, Plenco and Algo.