Eckes-Granini is making its packaging portfolio even more environmentally friendly with the help of the KHS Group. Since the middle of May its one-liter hohes C juice bottle has consisted entirely of recycled plastic (rPET). KHS’ Bottles & Shapes experts in Hamburg were responsible for optimization of the bottle. The new containers will continue to be produced on the tried-and-tested InnoPET FreshSafe block. With KHS as its long-term partner, Europe’s leading fruit juice producer is making a further relevant contribution to the expansion of the circular economy.
Eckes-Granini has been using 25% rPET in its hohes C PET juice bottles since 2018. “Bearing the EU’s plastic strategy in mind and the increase in recyclate quotas this prescribes, we’ve now decided to switch to using recycled PET only. We want to be a pioneer as regards the circular economy and set a good example for the beverage industry,” states Hermann Naumann, plant manager for Eckes-Granini in Bad Fallingbostel in Lower Saxony. Europe’s leading producer of fruit juice beverages has pursued an ambitious sustainability strategy for years, Naumann continues. “We aim to continue steadily reducing our carbon footprint in production and in our packaging. This means not only cutting down on the amount of material used but also closing the recycling loop.”
4,000 tons of new plastic and 8,000 tons of CO2 saved
These are the exact issues KHS addressed first when implementing the current project. With its holistic Bottles & Shapes consultancy program customers benefit from over 40 years of expertise in container design and production. Here, beverage producers state their preferences regarding the weight, shape or stability of the container, for instance, upon which the systems supplier assesses the feasibility of the design with the help of laboratory tests and simulation. In the case of Eckes-Granini the specifications were clear: switch to 100% rPET while maintaining the homogeneous quality of the container. According to Eckes-Granini, the changeover of the one-liter hohes C bottle to rPET will save over 4,000 metric tons of new PET per annum. This in turn means that the bottler will cut its carbon emissions by about 8,000 tons a year.
