Vodka Maker Chooses Plastic Bottle; Sustainable Packaging Market on the Rise

Greiner Packaging has produced a PET bottle for Sobieski Vodka, which used to be sold in a glass bottle.

Greiner produced the 1.75-liter plastic bottle, which is injection stretch blow molded, for the North American market. It is shatterproof and more lightweight than glass, which make it less costly and more efficient to ship.

PET bottles also require less material and energy to produce, compared to their glass counterparts, and use less energy to recycle at end of life. A recent report by Trucost finds the environmental cost of using plastics in consumer goods and packaging is nearly four times less than it would be if plastics were replaced with alternative materials such as glass, tin, aluminum and paper.

Greiner’s packaging news comes as North American polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) resin prices continued their downward trend December, while regional prices for PET bottle resin were up, according to Plastics News.

Meanwhile the demand for sustainable packaging is expected to increase from $132.4 billion in 2014 to $203.1 billion by the end of 2021, representing a compound annual growth rate of 6.2 percent, according to a Transparency Market Research report.

The report defines “green packaging” as recycled content packaging, reusable packaging and degradable packaging. These have a lower carbon footprint, compared to their traditional counterparts, and will see a boost from growing consumer demand and shrinking natural resources, the report says.

In October, Walmart launched its Sustainable Packaging Playbook, a guide to best-practices such as maximizing recycled and sustainably sources renewable content, reducing materials used through better packaging design and designing for recyclability. The retailer says the playbook can help suppliers cut costs, by using fewer resources in packaging and choosing recycled materials, which cost less than virgin materials.