"This special molding process, in effect, distributes the plastic where it's needed and removes it where it's not needed," said Toshi Kojitani, director of Graham Packaging's PET product line. "The bottom line is that we're achieving overall light-weighting without any loss of physical function."
Graham Packaging started the development of the new technology two years ago, and hastened the effort with the rise in resin prices that occurred last year. The first actual product to emerge from development will be a multi-serve hot-fill bottle. Kojitani said the bottle will be blown in the same mold used for the current, heavier version of the same size bottle. The company states that the technology will eventually be rolled out to its entire line of PET hot-fill bottles.
"The new bottle has exactly the same look, height, diameter, and footprint as the current version," said Kojitani. "Our tests and a trial run on a customer's filling line demonstrate that there's no difference in performance from the current container."
