5.9 grams – The deciding factor for the jury this year for awarding Krones with the German Packaging Prize in the ‘sustainability’ category had been the extremely low weight of the ShoulderFlex bottle. The reason for the same being ShoulderFlex makes a major contribution towards minimizing the carbon footprint of water bottlers by yielding material savings of up to 50 percent, as compared to conventional 0.5-litre water bottles on the market.
Read: July 2023 Issue of Food Infotech Magazine.
This revolutionary bottle design of Krones can be used for making containers that are not only sustainable, but weigh very little. However, its benefits are also apparent during the bottle production and processing stages. The bottles have excellent stackability even without the stabilizing effect of nitrogen pressurization, with a filled topload of up to 40 kilograms.
“One of the key messages in Krones’ vision is the responsible use of packaging materials. And that includes developing sustainable packaging solutions that are not only resource-economical but also practicable. ShoulderFlex meets those requirements in full,” explained Martin Loistl and Jochen Forsthövel, both members of the development team. “Despite the smaller amounts of PET needed to produce them, these containers are in no way inferior to conventional bottles currently on the market as far as stability and convenience are concerned.”