25 YEARS ANNIVERSARY 10 PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 05/24 www.petpla.net 25 YEARS ANNIVERSARY 1968: PVC bottles as trailblazers In response to a request from Air France, Vittel developed a plastic bottle for still water made from PVC. These early plastic bottles paved the way for the acceptance of other plastics and aligned with the societal trend toward increased mobility. 2011: CSD in 100% rPET PepsiCo Beverages Canada announced the introduction of the 7UP EcoGreen bottle, North America’s first soft drink bottle made from 100% rPET. “Creating a bottle made from 100% recycled plastic for soft drinks is more challenging than creating a bottle for non-carbonated beverages because of the stress on materials from carbonation pressure,” said the press release. 1971: The stretch blow moulding process Otto Rosenkranz of Heidenreich & Harbeck in Hamburg pioneered the development of a stretch blow moulding machine using heat to expand thermoelastic PVC, leading to the inception of the “Corpoplast” process. By 1971, this method had transitioned to PET, and Heidenreich & Harbeck had been acquired by Gildemeister AG in 1972. This, in turn, led to the sale of the BA 3 rotary machine to Dupont and PepsiCo in 1973. 1970: HDPE cap for CSD The Swiss designer Albert Obrist developed the first plastic top for CSD drinks bottles with the injection-moulded one-piece HDPE cap. It was originally intended for use with returnable glass bottles. 2021: 100% plant-based PET bottle Coca-Cola launched a 100% plant-based PET bottle, eliminating virgin oil-based PET from production, in collaboration with biotechnology companies. 2009: Bottles with plant-based material Coca-Cola unveiled the PlantBottle, containing 30% plantbased material, intending to set a new standard for environmentally friendly packaging. The PET bottle’s journey On the journey of development leading to today’s PET bottle, numerous brilliant minds and breakthroughs played pivotal roles, without which the PET bottle might not have achieved its global reach. There are too many to comprehensively list, but we’ve picked out a few highlights for you. 1977/1978: Rise of PET bottles in the USA Pepsi introduced the first 64 oz PET bottle for CSD, followed by Coca-Cola’s 2l PET bottle in 1978. These first PET bottles had a base cup glued under the round bottle base so they could stand up on their own. 1977 The search for the perfect preform mould Representatives of the Continental Can Company, a subcontractor to both Coke and Pepsi, set out to find a mould maker who was able to design and produce a mould for preforms of the desired quality. And although the owner of the Swiss company in Uznach they visited, Otto Hofstetter, didn’t speak a word of English, the Continental Can Company decided in his favour. The order was for twelve moulds with 16 cavities each, which ran on injection-moulding machines of the German manufacturer “Windsor”. Two cycles per minute were being processed. Photo courtesy: Otto Hofstetter, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Sipa, CSI
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