The launch of Nampak’s Infini bottle in February this year was recognised throughout the dairy, packaging and retail sectors as a major evolution in the design of the plastic milk bottle. Over recent weeks the potential of the new lightweighted design has been confirmed in a series of successful trials of the 4 pint milk bottle Nampak is running in partnership with its major customers.
Reaction to the bottle has been positive and the encouraging response to the trials is complemented by the findings of Nampak’s pre-launch consumer test panels1. These included particularly positive feedback on both how easy Infini is to remove from the fridge compared to the standard bottle and on Infini’s environmental credentials.
Nampak is also in discussion regarding licensing deals with a number of potential customers outside the dairy sector, both in the UK and abroad, who are interested in using the patented Infini design for lightweighting other handled-wear applications such as fabric conditioners and motor-oil bottles.
Eric Collins, Managing Director, Nampak Plastics comments: “We were always confident that Infini was going to be a success and all indications are that our investment in its innovative design is more than justified. Infini certainly made big news when it was launched and we are delighted with the ongoing reaction to the bottle.”
The ultra-lightweight Infini bottle was initially developed by Nampak’s dedicated innovation team2, and has been specifically designed to be lightweighted. Once the significant benefits of the design were identified over the standard bottle designs in the market, Nampak liaised with all its key customers to further develop this exciting new design. The Infini bottles offers an average 15% weight saving across the range with specific bottle sizes achieving savings as high as 21%, whilst at the same time continuing to meet current performance specifications.
The key objective in designing Infini was to reduce the weight of materials used in its production without affecting the bottle’s integrity and its requirement to be ‘fit for purpose’. This has been achieved with a new design that does not force the material as far into each of the bottle’s corners. In reducing the distance to the corners of the bottle there is a considerable reduction in the weight of material required.
As well as running down customers’ existing lines with limited modifications Infini also helps them further to achieve the Government and industry targets such as Courtauld Commitment 23 and the current Milk Roadmap4. Infini requires less material to manufacture providing customers and retailers a real opportunity to respond to environmental impact pressures.
The bottle’s innovative design has been selected as the optimum solution to the lightweighting challenge and its launch is part of the leading UK plastic milk bottle manufacturer’s drive to reduce its own carbon footprint.
The HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Infini bottle is fully recyclable and consumers can recycle it in exactly the same way as the standard bottle. The Infini bottle currently contains over 10% recycled material (rHDPE) with a target of up to 50% by 2020.
