NoBottle, a new concept in PET bottle packaging for water

Freitag 6 Juli 2007

Sidel has developed an elegant, high-performance package that is also the lightest PET bottle yet for water (9.9 g per 500 ml bottle). This novel concept, dubbed NoBottle, is possible due to another Sidel innovation known as Flex.

Sidel started with a simple idea: design a water bottle that maximizes shelf appeal and minimizes environmental impact. After a year in development, Sidel is unveiling NoBottle, which combines beauty and unprecedented weight reduction (9.9 g for a 500 ml package) in a bottle that can be manufactured and distributed on an industrial scale. A new technology, known as Flex, has made this breakthrough bottle possible. Flex technology is based on flexibility and shape memory that allows packages to spring back to their original shape.

Flexible bottle with shape memory
Typically, when bottle weight is reduced, ribs are added to brace bottle walls. These bottles are brittle and noisy when compressed, which reduces shelf appeal and premium image. The ribs also limit the possibilities for lightweighting. “We had to stop focusing on ways to brace bottles,” explains Franck Hancard, Packaging Solutions manager, “so we explored new avenues. After testing various plastic materials, we ultimately developed Flex.” Flex technology combines plastic’s flexibility with shape memory eliminating the need for ribs so designers are free to create all sorts of shapes, even for extremely lightweight bottles. These bottles are easy to grip, supple, and substantially less brittle than conventional bottles. And, thanks to shape memory, bottles are better able to withstand conveying, packing, transport and handling.
Expanding the possibilities for lightweighting has resulted in the aptly named NoBottle with a profile so pure and elegant, it almost seems to disappear, allowing the product inside to take center stage.

link to website