Image: Sensoneo

14.02.2024

Romania launches the world’s largest deposit system for beverages

Right now, Romania has one of the lowest recycling rates for packaging in all of Europe. This is currently set to change. Recently, the country in south-eastern Europe introduced a deposit return system for single-use packaging for beverages – with almost 80,000 collection points it is to become the world’s largest so-called Deposit Return System (DRS).

Bottle of wine with label and nutritional values on a smartphone

Image: Marzek Etiketten+Packaging

12.12.2023

E-labels for wine conform to new EU requirements

The EU Nutrition Declaration now also requires labels on bottles of wine. However, labels usually do not provide enough space for the list of ingredients and nutritional values. One solution are printed QR codes leading directly to a relevant website hosting all information that is required by law. One supplier of labels is offering a simple solution for this.

Image: Carlsberg

15.11.2023

Inside Paboco’s Quest for the Ideal Paper Bottle

Tim Silbermann, Paboco’s new 33-year-old CEO, is on a mission to help the Alpla-owned company develop a 100 percent bio-based, fully recyclable bottle. It currently is supplying customers such as Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, Coca-Cola Co., Carlsberg, and Absolut Vodka and continues to strive for a viable all-paper bottle.

Three unprinted tea bags with clip-on cards

Image: EN Tea

14.11.2023

Compostable biopolymer PBS replacing fossil plastics

Bioplastics can replace conventional fossil plastics in many applications while being processed in the same way. One important type of bioplastic is PBS. The biopolymer is plant-based, biodegradable and recyclable. A Japanese tea manufacturer is now using PBS in the packaging for its tea bags.

Image: Vetropack

17.10.2023

Less material and more green energy: The glass industry is becoming more sustainable

Glass is the ideal packaging material for beverages and foods. It is odourless and neutral in taste and does not react with the filled goods. However, its production is very energy intensive and the industry is working hard to become climate-neutral.

The novel cellulose fibres are produced from a mix of curran, bamboo and bagasse. (Image: RyPax)

11.10.2023

New bottle design – 100 percent fibre-based

The interest in fibre bottles is large, as they are lightweight, robust and made from renewable resources. The material does not always have to be wood from fir and deciduous trees, left-over material from food production is also suitable. For example sugar beet chips, which are a waste product of sugar production.

Image: Interzero

11.07.2023

HDPE bottles made from waste light packaging

A new and patented recycling process from recycling service provider Interzero allows HDPE plastics from post-consumer flows to be processed in such a way that during processing the properties of the recycled materials compare favourably with those of virgin plastics.

A tattooed hand holds a plastic water bottle.

Image: Jonathan Cooper/unsplash

16.05.2023

How useful are PET bottles?

People need water. And it has to be brought to them somehow. That’s where packaging, e.g. PET bottles, is important – particularly in areas where the groundwater is polluted. A study commissioned by Lidl, the German discount supermarket, revealed that it’s quite possible for plastic bottles to be sustainable in the right conditions.

Product photograph of three PET water bottles with stretch sleeve

CCL Label was able to reduce the thickness of their stretch sleeves to 30 micrometres. (Image: CCL Label)

14.02.2023

Thinner sleeves for more sustainability

Everyone is talking about sustainability. The way to an improved carbon footprint is to decrease the use of unnecessary material. Austrian company CCL Label, for example, were recently able to decrease the thickness of their stretch sleeves for PET bottles by one third.

Paper cups for to-go beverages such as coffee.

When it comes to their daily coffee, many people choose the to-go option and quickly dispose of the cups afterwards. Stora Enso and Huhtamaki now want to recycle these cups. (Image: Stora Enso)

24.10.2022

A coalition for more and better cup recycling

For 2030, the EU recycling target for paper and cardboard packaging is 85 %. However, the valuable raw materials in paper cups are often lost after only a short period of use. With The Cup Collective, Stora Enso and Huhtamaki are launching an initiative to collect and recycle paper cups.

A person explores the touchcap bottle closure with an index finger.

Tactile nubs form on the surface of the cap as soon as the contents of the bottle are no longer fit for consumption.

24.10.2022

A closure fighting food waste

Too much food is still being thrown away around the world, even though it may still have a shelf life. Together with United Caps, a London start-up has now developed a bottle cap that provides information about the edibility of the contents beyond the best-before date.

The Innokeg AF-C Transversal can wash and rack returnable and one-way kegs on just one system. (Image: KHS Group)

24.09.2022

500 kegs per hour on one conveyor belt

In the early days, a keg tap was simply driven into the wooden keg with a hammer, but today modern returnable kegs are connected to tap systems. However, after use, they need to be washed and then refilled, or racked. KHS, a Dortmund-based machine manufacturer, has now developed a system that can wash and rack different types of kegs using a single conveyor belt.

Super Combi complete line for PET bottles from Sidel

With the new complete line, PET bottles in various different sizes can be filled and packaged even more quickly. (Image: Sidel)

17.08.2022

Go with the flow! With the fastest complete water filling line in the Middle East

Quality and efficiency are key production requirements for water supplier Mai Dubai. The company turned to Sidel for a new bottling system. Now, 86,000 bottles per hour are being filled by Super Combi, the fastest complete line in the Middle East region.

Used beverage cartons on the way to the recycling plant. Photo: FKN

17.08.2022

Benelux to recycle beverage cartons

Beverage cartons are not waste, they consist of valuable raw materials that can be recycled. Stora Enso and Tetra Pak want to build a complete recycling system for the composite cartons in Belgium and are currently assessing the project’s feasibility.

Greiner Packaging and LyonellBasell’s CirculenRevive as a circular coffee capsule for Nestlé

Image: Greiner Packaging

12.04.2022

PCR Coffee Capsules Stay in the Recycling Loop

For their morning coffee, many consumers choose coffee capsules that then end up in the bin. This is not particularly sustainable, since the capsules consist of new plastics. Greiner Packaging and LyonellBasell have developed a circular solution made of post-consumer recyclates for Nescafé.

Image: Coca-Cola Germany

02.03.2022

Coca-Cola keeps its cap on

Coca-Cola Germany has given its single-use PET bottles new caps. In November 2021, the company introduced caps that are tethered to a safety ring on the necks of their bottles. In doing so, Coca-Cola is implementing a EU directive on plastic products way ahead of time.

Photo: Coca-Cola Deutschland

25.02.2021

The Coca-Cola paper bottle

Coca-Cola is not the first company to place a paper bottle for beverages on the European market. The beer manufacturer Carlsberg had brought out a paper bottle, the Green Fibre Bottle, before the Coca-Cola bottle.

Two Almdudler bottles on the conveyor belt in the packaging plant

Foto: ©Almdudler / Lipiarski

01.12.2020

Gender-inclusive language in packaging

Almdudler’s limited edition packaging, which uses gender-inclusive language with stars to include the female gender and others on their bottle (Almdudler means “alp yodeller”, and the female form is “Almdudlerin” – the limited edition packaging now includes both nouns and an asterisk) is one example that demonstrates that the role that diversity plays in packaging is equally as important...

Pallet of beer cans in warehouse with man

Foto: Wade Austin Ellis, Unsplash

02.11.2020

More beer is being consumed at home

The beer industry is suffering due to a drop in beer consumption in bars, restaurants and clubs due to the corona virus. However, beer sales recorded an uptick in retail and in the beverage markets in the first six months of 2020, which even led to bottlenecks in beer can production in parts.

Foto: Christin Hume, unsplash

22.07.2020

Customised beer bottles

85 years ago, beverage cans were invented in the USA and filled with Krueger Cream Ale. Today, the popular beverage packaging contains a wide range of contents, first and foremost beers, energy and soft drinks.

Photo: Melanie Streich

20.05.2020

Beverage cans: more popular than ever

85 years ago, beverage cans were invented in the USA and filled with Krueger Cream Ale. Today, the popular beverage packaging contains a wide range of contents, first and foremost beers, energy and soft drinks.

Photo by Evonne Yuwen Teoh //Unsplash

14.05.2020

Coca-Cola bottles made out of rPET

Sweden will soon see the launch of the first Coca-Cola bottles made out of 100% rPET. Other brands produced by the group will also use this fully recycled plastic. The beverage giant has even replaced its sweeping, red-and-white lettering to motivate consumers to recycle the bottles.

Glass objects from Cornelius Réer’s glass workshop

04.03.2020

Upcycling glass bottles

When used glass bottles are disposed of correctly in designated glass containers, 100% of the material can be recycled and thus reused – as intended as well as for other purposes. And more and more companies are deciding to upcycle, giving original products and packaging an upgrade – and new meaning.

Whiskey bottle with mobile phone and hummingbird

06.02.2020

Smart packaging – the packaging solution of the future

The Internet of Things and artificial intelligence are also transforming the packaging industry: Intelligent packaging allows users to track delivery routes and can indicate the freshness of foods. At the same time, modern technologies offer countless marketing opportunities to increase customer loyalty.

15.01.2020

Upcycling Nespresso coffee capsules

Turning waste products into new and useful products is known as upcycling. There are numerous examples: furniture made out of Euro-pallets, toys for children made out of cardboard and bicycles made out of used deodorant cans. Now, Nespresso is showing the world what old coffee capsules can do.

Drinking bottle with scent pods, right: Installing the scent pod

09.01.2020

Sustainable packaging for healthy drink

Consumers have increasingly high expectations when it comes to the sustainability of beverage packaging, and this also extends to their content – healthy drinks are no longer something just for athletes. As a result, the global offer of innovative solutions for environmentally friendly beverage bottles and cans has increased, as has the offer of full-flavoured, low-sugar drinks.