Pool solution for the brewing industry
01/2023: The Vetropack Group is collaborating with Brau Union Österreich to introduce a new 0.33-litre returnable bottle. It will be launched on the market next year as a standard solution for the brewing industry. Produced with the help of innovative technology, this bottle is one third lighter in weight than conventional returnable bottles – so it contributes to the refill quota.
Returnable packaging pools offer many economic and ecological advantages: they reduce logistics effort and outlay, shorten transportation distances, and save valuable resources – so they help to lower CO2 emissions. To play its part in meeting the refill quota that will be a binding requirement in Austria from 2024 onwards, Vetropack has developed a 0.33-litre bottle which is available to the entire brewing industry as a pool solution. The scheme will get under way in autumn and roll out through 2024.
Convincing advantages in terms of sustainability, convenience, stability and simpler logistics make the bottle produced by Vetropack ideal for use as returnable packaging. At present, cullet accounts for over two thirds of the input materials used to produce raw glass. With the help of an innovative new process, Vetropack is introducing tension into the glass bottles to make them exceptionally resilient – while also reducing their weight.
Pool solution reduces logistics effort and cuts CO2 emissions
"This bottle is about 30 percent lighter than a conventional returnable bottle – and in terms of strength, its values are at least the same – if not better," according to Erich Jaquemar, Strategic Account Manager for Vetropack in Austria. Extensive tests have proven the lightweight glass bottle's stability. "Because wear on the contact surfaces is reduced, the re-usage rate is about 20 percent higher than for conventional containers." At the same time, this bottle offers extra "food safety" thanks to its stability, Jaquemar points out.
Vetropack developed the shape of the bottle in collaboration with relevant stakeholders such as the Austrian Reuse Alliance, the Austrian Brewers Association and its members such as the Stiegl, Egger and Ottakringer breweries under the lead management of Brau Union. It is a compact version of the classic Vichy shape, with a height of 212 mm. This new standard means that six crates can be stacked on one pallet; the low bottle weight of 210 grams also allows more rows of crates per pallet, so transportation outlay and CO2 emissions are substantially reduced. "Our basic principle is to consider reusable packaging as a complete system – we don't just focus on the individual bottle. In liaison with the stakeholders involved, and thanks to their know-how, we've coordinated the bottle and crate designs while taking account of the logistics involved," Jaquemar comments. Important tests on stackability, storage and refill capabilities were carried out in Brau Union's Wieselburg brewery.
"Anyone who buys returnable bottles instead of non-returnables will save valuable resources and cut CO2 emissions by up to 75%," according to Gabriela Maria Straka, Director Corporate Affairs & ESG Sustainability at Brau Union Österreich.
«With the bottle developed by our partner Vetropack, we are now presenting an ecologically sensible and economically attractive alternative for all those who previously saw shape, size or weight as an argument against returnables.»
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